Find out what types of subcutaneous fat are and how to quickly lose excess weight without resorting to diets and dietary supplements. Everyone knows the story of the extinction of the dinosaurs. After the fall of the meteorite, mammals survived, possessing the ability to thermogenesis. This concept should be understood as the ability of the body to maintain body temperature, and in this, brown adipose tissue plays a role.
It should also be noted that scientists distinguish between two types of thermogenesis:
- Contractile - to generate heat, skeletal muscle contractions are used, which are expressed in tremors and chills.
- Non-contractile - brown fat takes an active part in this process.
It should be remembered that the body often deliberately increases body temperature in order to fight diseases and if it does not exceed 37.5 degrees, then it is better not to try to bring it down. Now let's take a closer look at the importance of brown adipose tissue in bodybuilding.
What is brown adipose tissue?
There are two types of fatty tissue in our body: brown and white. Although today scientists believe that there is a third type, called beige fat, we will talk about it at the end of this article. The fat that humanity is constantly struggling with when trying to lose weight is white, and it is quite well studied. With regard to brown adipose tissue, this cannot be said and there is not much information about it yet.
Of course, there is nothing good and bad in the human body, and for this reason such a division is very arbitrary. White adipose tissue contains energy reserves, and brown adipose tissue burns them if necessary. By the way, it has a brown color due to the presence of mitochondria in it. For the first time, brown adipose tissue was found in animals and is highly developed in those species that hibernate in winter. This is due to the fact that during this period the metabolic rate sharply decreases and contractile thermogenesis in such conditions is impossible. In addition, brown fat is also involved in the process of awakening animals from hibernation, contributing to an increase in body temperature.
Previously, scientists were sure that brown fat is present only in the body of babies and thanks to it, the child can adapt to new living conditions outside the womb. In infants, brown fat accounts for about five percent of the total body weight. Thanks to brown adipose tissue, the baby can avoid hypothermia in the first time after birth, which is the main cause of death in premature babies. Scientists have determined that due to the higher amount of brown fat, babies are less susceptible to cold than adults.
We have already said that brown adipose tissue contains many mitochondria, as well as a special protein compound UCP1, which is able to quickly extract heat energy from fatty acids without using ATP for this. As you know, lipids contained in fat cells are a reserve material for the production of ATP. If the baby needs to keep warm or needs a lot of energy for other purposes, then the brown adipose tissue quickly oxidizes fats to the state of fatty acids. After that, thanks to the UCP1, they are quickly converted into energy.
All this leads to the rapid burning of fat, and the body begins to rapidly lose weight. For this process to continue constantly, the child must breathe and eat. With age, this mechanism does not work as efficiently. Approximately 14 days after birth, the process of contractile thermogenesis is already activated in the child.
However, brown fat is present in adults, and it can be activated with the help of cold.
Effectiveness of brown fat in adults
An adult's body contains no more than two percent of brown fat. In the course of experiments with the participation of animals, it was found that when stimulated by the sympathetic nervous system, the working capacity of adipose brown tissue increases. True, for this it is necessary that two additional conditions are met. Firstly, the animals must be adapted to the cold, and secondly, the impact on the body of cold is necessary.
In the course of one experiment, it was found that brown fat, when activated, is capable of spending about 300 watts of energy for every kilogram of body weight. For a person weighing 80 kilos, the energy consumption will be 24 kilowatts. For comparison, an average of about one kilowatt is consumed at rest.
Brown adipose tissue is able to burn fat very actively and during this process, oxidation of white adipose cells occurs, after which the resulting fatty acids are transported to the brown adipose tissue. Scientists have found that the thermogenesis caused by brown fat is due to the consumption of excess food.
During the study, one group of experimental rats ate simple food, and the second was given tasty food. As a result, in the representatives of the second group, when they consumed 80 percent more food, their body weight increased by about a quarter, which can be considered a weak indicator. On the other hand, oxygen consumption of these animals increased sharply, and the reserves of brown fat increased by about three times.
Scientists are now suggesting that brown fat has great potential and could be very beneficial for people with diabetes and obesity. When active, brown fat is able to burn large amounts of body fat and increase the consumption of glucose in the blood. It should also be said that in obese people the amount of brown fat is less in comparison with the normal state and its activity is much lower.
Finally, a few words should be said about beige fat. Beige adipose tissue has the same thermogenic properties as beige adipose tissue. Scientists suggest that in terms of functionality, beige fat is located between white and brown. It is possible that an adult has a large supply of beige fat, not brown. Probably, it is for this reason that those stimulants that cause the activation of brown adipose tissue in animals do not act on humans.
Scientists continue to research in this area and it is possible that the brown fat in the body of babies turns to beige with age and special stimulants are needed to activate the receptors of this tissue.
You will learn more informative information about brown adipose tissue from this video:
