It turns out that brown fat is your friend. Brown fat is “good” fat. Brown fat doesn’t store energy; rather, it burns excess energy for heat. You want more of it, and you want to activate all the brown fat that you have. In this article I’ll show you the top proven ways to activate brown fat and the promising ways that might work.
What Is Brown Fat and Why Should You Care?
White fat is where energy is stored (and sometimes too much of it), while brown fat, also known as brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a fat-burning heater for your body. Brown fat is full of mitochondria for producing energy. But the energy production is uncoupled from generating ATP for cellular energy. Instead, it just generates heat. Or scientifically speaking, BAT uses thermogenesis to regulate body temperature and boost the burning of excess energy consumed. This makes brown fat your friend in maintaining a healthy body weight and staving off chronic disease. So, knowing that brown fat is your friend, how do we activate it or even turn some white fat into “beige” fat with similar properties to brown fat so that we can receive the benefits of brown fat?
The Heavy Hitters: Most Validated Ways to Activate Brown Fat
Cold Exposure: Chill Out to Heat Up
- How It Works: Exposure to cold triggers your sympathetic nervous system, signaling brown fat to burn energy and produce heat via a protein called UCP1 (uncoupling protein 1). Think shivering—or even just feeling a bit chilly.
- How to Do It: Try taking a cool shower or dipping into an ice bath (start slow!). This is one of the reasons why cold plunges are all the rage these days.
- The Evidence: A study in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that mild cold exposure (19°C or 66°F) significantly increased BAT activity in healthy adults.
- Why It’s Top Tier: It’s natural, accessible, and backed by decades of research. The biggest, most easily-detected effects come from cold exposure.
Exercise: Move Your Body, Boost Your White Fat to Act Like BAT
- How It Works: Physical activity, especially endurance exercise, promotes “browning” of white fat into beige fat. Hormones like irisin, released during exercise, play a key role.
- How to Do It: Aim for 150-300 minutes of moderate cardio (like jogging or cycling) per week, mixed with strength training for the biggest effect.
- The Evidence: A review in the Journal of Experimental Biology details how exercise increases the expression of proteins in white fat that make it act more like brown fat.
- Why It’s a Winner: It’s a double whammy—burn calories during the workout and make your white fat more metabolically fit for longer-term benefits.
Supplemental Strategies: Dietary Boosts for Brown Fat
Capsaicin: Spice Up Your Metabolism
- How It Works: Found in chili peppers, capsaicin activates BAT by stimulating the TRPV1 receptor, ramping up thermogenesis and fat burning.
- How to Do It: Add spicy peppers to meals or take capsaicin supplements (consult a doctor first).
- The Evidence: A study in The American Journal Clinical Nutrition confirmed capsaicin boosts BAT activity and energy expenditure in humans.
- Bonus: It’s an easy, tasty addition to your diet.
Green Tea (EGCG): Sip Your Way to Activation
- How It Works: Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a compound in green tea, enhances thermogenesis and BAT function, partly by boosting norepinephrine levels.
- How to Do It: Drink 2-3 cups of green tea daily or consider EGCG supplements.
- The Evidence: Research in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed EGCG increases fat oxidation and BAT activity.
- Perk: Drinking tea is a soothing ritual with a metabolic upside.
Curcumin: Turmeric’s Hidden Power
- How It Works: This turmeric compound may upregulate UCP1 and enhance brown fat activity, while also reducing inflammation.
- How to Do It: Cook with turmeric or try a next-generation curcumin supplement like our CurQfen-containing supplement.
- The Evidence: A study in Obesity (Silver Spring) found curcumin promotes BAT activation in mice.
- Note: Human data is still growing, but it’s promising. This kind of research is difficult as it requires cold exposure and exposure to the kind of radiation used in PET scans.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Fish Oil for Fat Burning
- How It Works: The omega-3 fats EPA and DHA boost BAT activity and encourage fat metabolism.
- How to Do It: Wild fish are often contaminated with heavy metals and farm-raised fish are fed very low quality food. Fish oil supplements are a clean, reliable source of EPA and DHA.
- The Evidence: Research in Scientific Reports showed omega-3s increase BAT thermogenesis in mice, with human parallels emerging.
- Extra Benefit: You already know that fish oil is great for your heart and brain. Now you have yet another reason to supplement with fish oil.
Emerging Frontiers: Here Are Methods Still Being Researched
Sleep and Melatonin: Rest to Reset
- How It Works: Quality sleep and melatonin (a sleep-regulating hormone) may increase BAT mass and activity, aiding thermogenesis.
- How to Do It: Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep; consider melatonin supplements if you are more than 50 years old.
- The Evidence: A study in The Journal of Pineal Research found melatonin boosts BAT in rodents, with early human hints. A proof-of-concept study in the Diabetes found that in 4 people without a pineal gland there was increased BAT volume and activity after taking 3 mg of melatonin nightly for 3 months.
- Caveat: More human trials are needed to replicate this study of 4 people.
Intermittent Fasting or Caloric Restriction: Less Can Be More
- How It Works: Limiting food intake may activate brown fat to maintain body temperature and energy balance during fasting periods.
- How to Do It: Try 16:8 fasting (16 hours fast, 8 hours eat) or cut calories by 20-30% a few days a week.
- The Evidence: Research in Cell Metabolism suggests caloric restriction helps white fat become “beige” fat in mice.
- Heads-Up: Caloric restriction has many benefits, but it is still early to tell if one of the mechanisms is through BAT activation. If this approach interests you, but looks difficult, conside using the Perfect Cleanse, which gives you the benefits of water fasting while consuming an attainable low-calorie diet and improving your metabolism via autophagy.
Wrap-Up: Your Brown Fat Action Plan
Your genes are not your destiny. Research has shown that brown fat can be activated, even if it isn’t active in your current state of obesity or sickness. Cold exposure and exercise are the clearest, most potent ways of activating brown adipose tissue. Don’t skip those two methods and just use the dietary activators like capsaicin, EGCG and curcumin. Get great sleep and ensure that you have melatonin in your system naturally or by supplement. It may help with activating brown fat, too. It turns out that a holistic diet and lifestyle will help you in many ways, including activation of your brown fat. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made.
