Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Obesity

Slim without the gym — the magic of chilling out

Cold exposure enhances brown adipose tissue activity, the beiging of white adipose tissue and might have antidiabetic and antiobesity effects. In new data, cold exposure induces and sustains brown adipose tissue in metabolically healthy individuals with obesity, suggesting that cold treatment might be clinically beneficial, even for those with increased BMI.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Cold-induced changes in BAT activity in healthy individuals with obesity.

References

  1. Peng, X. R., Gennemark, P., O'Mahony, G. & Bartesaghi, S. Unlock the thermogenic potential of adipose tissue: pharmacological modulation and implications for treatment of diabetes and obesity. Front. Endocrinol. (Lausanne) 6, 174 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Virtanen, K. A. et al. Functional brown adipose tissue in healthy adults. N. Engl. J. Med. 360, 1518–1525 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. van Marken Lichtenbelt, W. D. et al. Cold-activated brown adipose tissue in healthy men. N. Engl. J. Med. 360, 1500–1508 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Cypess, A. M. et al. Identification and importance of brown adipose tissue in adult humans. N. Engl. J. Med. 360, 1509–1517 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hanssen, M. J. et al. Short-term cold acclimation recruits brown adipose tissue in obese humans. Diabetes http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/db15-1372 (2016).

  6. Yoneshiro, T. et al. Recruited brown adipose tissue as an antiobesity agent in humans. J. Clin. Invest. 123, 3404–3408 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. van der Lans, A. A. et al. Cold acclimation recruits human brown fat and increases nonshivering. thermogenesis. J. Clin. Invest. 123, 3395–3403 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Blondin, D. P. et al. Increased brown adipose tissue oxidative capacity in cold-acclimated humans. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 99, E438–E446 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Lee, P. et al. Temperature-acclimated brown adipose tissue modulates insulin sensitivity in humans. Diabetes 63, 3686–3698 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hanssen, M. J. et al. Short-term cold acclimation improves insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Nat. Med. 21, 863–865 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

P.E.S. is supported by NIH grants R01-DK55758, R01-DK099110 and P01-DK088761 (P.E.S.) and Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas grant RP140412. We would like to thank our colleague O. Oz for help with Fig. 1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philipp E. Scherer.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Iyengar, P., Scherer, P. Slim without the gym — the magic of chilling out. Nat Rev Endocrinol 12, 252–254 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2016.20

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2016.20

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing