Researchers at the University of Granada have published an article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that points to mechanisms by which exercise could activate brown adipose tissue and outlines the health benefits
Scientists at the University of Granada have begun a project to determine the role that exercise plays in activating brown adipose tissue, which regulates body temperature and, when activated, can prevent and combat obesity and improve cardiovascular health.
The University of Granada research team is led by Jonatan Ruiz, a “Ramón y Cajal” Research Fellow in the Faculty of Sports Sciences. The British Journal of Sports Medicine has published their article which indicates the mechanisms by which exercise could activate brown adipose tissue and describes the health benefits this entails.
Ruiz points out that the body accumulates different types of adipose tissue and that, in contrast to white adipose tissue that people accumulate as an energy store, “brown adipose tissue is responsible for regulating body temperature and burns the sugars and triglycerides we accumulate to do so”.
“Since 2009, the scientific community has been investigating how to activate brown adipose tissue because it has been demonstrated that this can benefit our health as it improves the cardiovascular system, fights obesity and prevents diabetes”, Ruiz explains.
In their study, the scientists stress that activating this «good fat» helps control glycaemia and thus prevent diabetes and illnesses like obesity, which also increases our baseline metabolic expenditure: the basic consumption of calories needed to live.
“We are now trying to identify which foods help activate brown adipose tissue and the pharmaceutical industry is looking for a medication that serves this purpose, although we believe that exercise may be the best medicine», says Ruiz.
Baseline metabolic expenditure can increase by up to 100 calories a day which, over a year, amounts to a loss of up to five kilos of fat.It has already been proved that when brown adipose tissue has been activated, the body burns twice as many calories in the digestive process than when it has not.
“If I eat a 200 calorie sweet, my body can burn 50 calories in digesting it, but with activated brown adipose tissue that could be 100 caloies”, Ruiz explains. In his article, he defends the view that exercise activates brown adipose tissue.
Moreover, it stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and activity of the heart, needed to burn fat and prevent illness without the «magic pill» the pharmaceutical industry is looking for.
The University of Granada research team is now looking for volunteers aged between 18 and 25 to participate in the ACTIBATE study, in which they aim to demonstrate that physical exercise can increase the quantity and activity of brown adipose tissue. Participants will undergo a six-month individualized program of exercise in an advanced research centre.
References
Regulation of energy balance by brown adipose tissue: at least three potential roles for physical activity
Ruiz JR, et al. Br J Sports Med Month 2015
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Contact:
Jonatan R. Ruiz
Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow Department of Physical Education and Sports University of Granada
Faculty of Sports Sciences
Phone: +34 958 242 754
E-mail address: ruizj@ugr.es
