“In my quest for the ultimate cellulite treatments and creams I have researched thermogenesis for more than 20 years so for me the conversion of white fat into brown fat has always been exciting. Thanks to this and other ground breaking research papers we now know that white fat can indeed provenly turn into a functionally brown fat, called beige fat or brite fat. The process of “fat browning” can help burn calories and improve both topical fat tissue health metabolism (including cellulite fat) as well as whole body health and metabolism.”
Can brown fat thermogenesis reduce cellulite?
Brown fat thermogenesis and cellulite | In summary
Beige fat and cellulite
Brown fat thermogenesis: the holy grail to ‘fat melting’
Beige fat: neither brown nor white - but a great target for fat/cellulite reduction
Irisin and beige fat: the holy grail of fat reduction, redefined
Forskolin and caffeine: double fat burning effect
Newly discovered "beige" fat cells can be a target for novel fat/cellulite reduction creams and treatments
Thermogenesis for cellulite reduction via cellulite creams
Brown fat vs white fat vs cellulite: frequently asked questions (FAQs)
How to turn white fat into brown fat naturally
How to get rid of white fat
is brown fat good or bad?
Do thermogenic creams work?
Beige adipocytes are a distinct type of thermogenic fat cell in mouse and human
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Brown fat thermogenesis and cellulite | In summary
Fat tissue exists in three main forms: white, brown, and beige. White adipose tissue (WAT) stores fat and makes up the bulk of human fat, including cellulite. Brown adipose tissue (BAT), on the other hand, burns fat to produce heat through thermogenesis, driven by the protein UCP1. BAT is scarce in adults, located mainly around the neck and shoulder blades. Beige fat, discovered in 2012, is a hybrid type, originating from white fat but capable of behaving like brown fat when stimulated.
Beige fat expresses UCP1 and can burn fat, but only after chronic stimulation by cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). This process can be triggered by cold exposure, exercise (which increases adrenaline and noradrenaline), and certain herbal extracts such as forskolin. Caffeine enhances this effect by preventing cAMP breakdown. The hormone irisin, released during exercise, can also convert white fat into beige fat, further boosting thermogenesis.
This discovery opens up potential for new cellulite treatments and fat-reduction methods, especially using creams or supplements that stimulate cAMP and UCP1. Long-term application may promote lasting fat-burning effects by converting WAT to beige fat.
However, excessive fat oxidation might increase oxidative stress, which needs to be managed. Despite potential risks, this approach could transform health and aesthetics if applied wisely.
Beige fat and cellulite
White fat, beige fat, brown fat… I know it sounds like a colour swatch for Ikea furniture, but indeed fat comes in three colours and each of them is different - and only one of those colours is found in cellulite.
Here we present the different types of fat tissue and what they can do for you, on the basis of our 2012 report of the first scientific study presenting the existence of beige fat cells.
(Scientists knew about brown fat for several decades but have only discovered beige fat cells in 2012.)
Brown fat thermogenesis: the holy grail to ‘fat melting’
White adipose tissue (WAT, white fat), is the fat tissue responsible for fat accumulation. In humans it comprises the vast majority of fat tissue, including cellulite fat.
In contrast, brown adipose tissue (BAT, brown fat) actually burns fat for the production of heat in the body (thermogenesis) under the influence of a protein called UCP1. In humans it only comprises a very small amount of fat tissue, usually around the neck and shoulderblades.
Ever since the discovery of thermogenic BAT, the focus has been on stimulating that tissue to oxidise (burn) fat for energy and help with the fight against overweight and obesity - and consequently cellulite.
White adipose tissue was previously considered inert to UCP1. Because of this it was thought to be a waste of time to stimulate that tissue with UCP1 and make it burn fat instead of storing it, that it normally does.
Beige fat: neither brown nor white - but a great target for fat/cellulite reduction
As we mentioned above, brown fat generates heat (thermogenesis) because it expresses a mitochondrial protein called uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). In contrast, white fat does not express (produce) UCP1 and therefore does not burn fat.
However, hundreds of studies in the last few years have shown that there exists an intermediate type of fat which is neither brown nor white, but something in-between, aptly named "beige fat" (sometimes called “brite fat”, from brown plus white).
Beige/brite fat is basically white fat which after being chronically stimulated by a protein called cAMP behaves like brown fat. Contrary to what was previously thought impossible, this type of white fat expresses the thermogenic protein UCP1 and oxidises fatty acids (i.e. “burns fat”) for heat production.
However, this only happens if white fat is CHRONICALLY stimulated by cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate).
So we have chronic cAMP stimulation > browning and UCP1 expression > fat burning.
The good news is that cAMP production can easily be stimulated by adrenaline and noradrenaline, which are in turn produced in large amounts during vigorous exercise or under cold conditions.
cAMP production is also stimulated by a host of lipolytic herbal extracts which are already widely used for fat reduction and cellulite removal, both topical (anti-cellulite creams) and oral (nutritional supplements):
Forskolin is a well known cAMP-stimulating herbal extract isolated from the indian coleus plant and it is known as a thermogenic agent
Furthermore, good old caffeine maximises the effect of forskolin, by inhibiting the break down of cAMP, hence the use of those two actives in the very few real cellulite creams on the market
Irisin and beige fat: the holy grail of fat reduction, redefined
The even more exciting finding is that white fat cells can turn into beige fat cells under the influence of the relatively recently discovered hormone irisin (named after Iris, the Greek messenger goddess). This hormone is produced during exercise and is known to convert white fat to beige fat.
This means that exercise does not only lead to fat loss via fat-and-carb- burning in the muscles. It also changes your fat tissues from fat-storing facilities into fat-burning cellular "furnaces", i.e. it makes your fat tissue “thermogenic”.
Forskolin and caffeine: double fat burning effect
It also means that the herbal extracts mentioned above do not only cause a temporary fat release via cAMP, but they can potentially change the nature of the fat tissue that they are applied on, towards the fat burning type.
Not bad.
Newly discovered "beige" fat cells can be a target for novel fat/cellulite reduction creams and treatments
And the news is getting even better. Researchers have found that tissues which previously thought to be brown adipose tissue (i.e. a tissue which is rarely found on human body) are actually beige fat tissue (i.e. normal white fat which had been changed towards the BAT phenotype via the stimulation of UCP1, cAMP, irisin or even other unknown factors).
That means that in the future (don’t get too excited about tomorrow, give it a couple of decades) we will be able to create thermogenic beige tissue to burn all the excess calories we consume. Sounds like a dream right?
Well, it could be reality, but it could also come with its own sets of problems*, especially if we apply all this knowledge just in order to eat more and sit down on our bottoms more. But if it is done with measure, it can really revolutionise our health and appearance.
* One major problem would be the huge amounts of free radical and consequent oxidative damage created by the huge amounts of fat oxidation produced in the mitochondria. That oxidative damage could partially be negated by antioxidants, but not completely.
Thermogenesis for cellulite reduction via cellulite creams
I would like to go a bit further and suggest that an anti-cellulite/spot fat reduction cream with ingredients that act on cAMP (e.g. forskolin) can partially help convert white fat into beige fat and therefore assist with topical fat reduction and cellulite reduction.
In addition, any substance that inhibits the breakdown of cAMP by phosphodiesterases (PDE), such as caffeine, theophylline, and many other substances, may also help in that direction.
(Fast forward 7 years after this article and the above two paragraphs were first written (2012), and indeed scientists that year (2019) found that caffeine is thermogenic, specifically due to its PDE inhibition and cAMP boost. I am feeling proud of my prediction.)
And of course, any natural chemical that helps boost UCP1 levels directly is also welcome as an anti-cellulite cream ingredient.
As a last speculation, I would say that prolonged application of such creams (3-6 months) will have a much better chance of changing WAT into BAT, than the usual 2-3 week temporary application of anti-cellulite/local fat reduction products practised by most people.
Brown fat vs white fat vs cellulite: frequently asked questions (FAQs)
I hope everything is clear now regarding brown fat thermogenesis and cellulite.
Below are some straight, quick answers to the most common questions related to this subject, to clarify finer points and add more detail.
How to turn white fat into brown fat naturally
As mentioned above, there are a handful of methods to convert white fat into brown fat:
Intensive cardiovascular exercise - think HIIT, high intensity running, swimming, rowing etc (requires a healthy heart, lots of energy and - for running and HIIT - strong joints)
Cold exposure - cold showers, keeping the thermostat down in the winter, dressing lightly in the winter etc (this can be anything from just uncomfortable to dangerous for health)
Forskolin, caffeine, EGCG and other natural thermogenic natural actives (as they require high - and therefore unsafe - doses, they only make sense topically, as in thermogenic creams)
How to get rid of white fat
You can get rid of white fat with diet / healthy nutrition, exercise or a GLP-1 agonist (such as Ozempic).
These are the best proven ways to lose weight (some supplements may help but only a little).
is brown fat good or bad?
It is good to have brown fat, as it burns calories as opposed to white fat which stores calories. Obtaining brown fat though requires intense exercise and/or cold exposure, so it is a quite tough endeavour.
Do thermogenic creams work?
If they are highly concentrated with forskolin, caffeine, EGCG and other thermogenic active ingredients, yes they can work. The problem is that the vast majority of such creams on the market aren’t, so most thermogenic creams don’t work…
Beige adipocytes are a distinct type of thermogenic fat cell in mouse and human
Research paper link: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(12)00595-8
Abstract: “Brown fat generates heat via the mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP1, defending against hypothermia and obesity. Recent data suggest that there are two distinct types of brown fat: classical brown fat derived from a myf-5 cellular lineage and UCP1-positive cells that emerge in white fat from a non-myf-5 lineage. Here, we report the isolation of "beige" cells from murine white fat depots. Beige cells resemble white fat cells in having extremely low basal expression of UCP1, but, like classical brown fat, they respond to cyclic AMP stimulation with high UCP1 expression and respiration rates. Beige cells have a gene expression pattern distinct from either white or brown fat and are preferentially sensitive to the polypeptide hormone irisin. Finally, we provide evidence that previously identified brown fat deposits in adult humans are composed of beige adipocytes. These data provide a foundation for studying this mammalian cell type with therapeutic potential.”
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