Experts from the University of Nottingham are looking for volunteers to take part in a new study investigating whether regular cooling could activate the body's 'brown fat' and potentially help to tackle obesity.
Experts from the University's School of Medicine are looking for healthy women aged between 20 and 50, with a BMI between 25 and 35, to take part in the CoolBAT FLEXI study.
Fat in the human body is composed by three types of cells defined as white, beige or brown. White fat stores energy, whilst brown - or good – fat produces heat by burning sugar and fat, often in response to cold. Increasing its activity may improve blood sugar control as well as improving blood lipid levels and the extra calories burnt could help with weight loss.
Experts from the University of Nottingham are looking for volunteers to take part in a new study investigating whether regular cooling could activate the body's 'brown fat' and potentially help to tackle obesity.
Experts from the University's School of Medicine are looking for healthy women aged between 20 and 50, with a BMI between 25 and 35, to take part in the CoolBAT FLEXI study.
Fat in the human body is composed by three types of cells defined as white, beige or brown. White fat stores energy, whilst brown - or good – fat produces heat by burning sugar and fat, often in response to cold. Increasing its activity may improve blood sugar control as well as improving blood lipid levels and the extra calories burnt could help with weight loss.
People with a lower BMI have a higher amount of brown fat. Beige fat cells are located within white fat depots and can be induced into 'burning energy', as brown cells typically do. They are abundant in humans and so could be targeted for obesity management.
This new study will investigate whether regular gentle cooling can activate and train the body's brown fat and support metabolic health.
Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two home cooling programmes or a control group. The cooling is gentle and done using a commercially available cooling vest (containing cool pads chilled to 15°C) once a day for 12 weeks.
One programme requires the vest to be worn for two hours each morning. The other allows the two hours to be taken flexibly throughout the day.
Before and after 12 weeks, the research team will measure how brown fat is functioning and assess a range of metabolic health markers, including:
- Body weight and body composition
- Blood lipid and glucose levels from finger prick sample
- Brown fat assessment using MRI and thermal scans
- Continuous blood glucose monitoring (using a small wearable sensor)
- A short food diary and wellbeing questionnaires
This new study will provide new insights into brown fat and how it potentially help to stimulate weight loss. Volunteers are essential to help us to carry out the study and we are interested in hearing from anyone who might be willing to commit their time."
