An ice-cold shower is not enough to lose weight: by wearing a vest and belt at 15°C for two hours a day, research participants lost almost a kg of fat in 6 weeks thanks to the activation of brown adipose tissue.
Does the cold help you lose weight? Yes, but for this to happen, taking a cold shower is not enough: you need regular and prolonged exposure to low temperatures. Researchers from the University of Nottingham (England) and Leiden University Medical Center (the Netherlands) recruited a group of 47 adults with obesity and assigned half of them a cooling vest and belt, kept at a temperature of 15°C.
The unfortunate people had to wear them two hours a day for 6 weeks, wearing them as if they were nothing over a thin t-shirt during normal daily activities.
Brown fat
Result: the volunteers lost an average of 0.9 kg, almost all of which was body fat, compared to zero kg lost (and 6 hectograms gained) in the control group. The hypothesis is that this source of constant cold, which is inexpensive and easily integrated into your daily routine, activates brown adipose tissue, which burns body fat reserves to produce heat.
This mechanism is beneficial for fat and glucose metabolism, and reduces levels of inflammation in the body.
This article describes scientific research for dissemination and information purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice or a therapeutic indication. Exposure to the cold or the do-it-yourself use of cooling devices can pose health risks: any weight loss program or metabolic change must be undertaken exclusively under medical supervision.
