Longevity
Brown Fat Protects Against Cancer
Brown fat tissue constantly burns energy, depriving tumor cells of vital nutrients. A new study shows how cold exposure activates this metabolically active tissue and slows tumor growth.
Longevity
Brown fat tissue constantly burns energy, depriving tumor cells of vital nutrients. A new study shows how cold exposure activates this metabolically active tissue and slows tumor growth.
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Actually, a better title would be: "What we can learn from brown fat for cancer prevention." But as you can see, it's too long for an email subject line. So be it.
Today we're linking two topic areas that we've already discussed individually on the blog (see links below). We're covering today's topics...
... and: a groundbreaking new study from the renowned scientific journal Nature.
When it comes to cancer prevention, we've learned (here), it always comes down to healthy energy metabolism. And healthy energy metabolism is characterized by the fact that it processes what you give it. Simple, yet complicated. That is, the machine burns through both carbohydrates well (= blood glucose stays low) and fatty acids (= the level of free fatty acids, which are energy carriers that fat tissue constantly releases, stay low).
You get it. You have a healthy energy metabolism when you're burning off energy. When energy piles up in your blood because it can't get to the cells—the end consumer—then you don't have a healthy energy metabolism. Unfortunately, that applies to quite a lot of people.
But here's where tumor prevention comes in: If you want to make it hard for the tumor in your body and essentially give your immune system time and especially the power(!) to fight the tumor efficiently... then you should remember two "maxims":
- Tumor cells hate energy shortage, i.e., substrate deficiency. - Immune cells hate energy overload, i.e., exactly the opposite.
Ergo: While immune cells perform poorly in the energy overload that characterizes modern Western lifestyles, tumor cells thrive and flourish in that same environment. That's the "trick." And that's exactly what helps us understand what would help.
Help would come from:
The latter is certainly an effective tool and should be used if you're carrying too much energy on your hips. But today we're focusing on point 1. And that's where the new study comes in.
You have three different types of adipose tissue in your body:
That is, it's beneficial for you to have as much beige (or brown) fat tissue with high activity as possible. One way to make this beige or brown fat much more active is... to get cold. Because that's a very powerful stimulus for your body to activate this fat tissue and use it to heat your body.
Researchers have now investigated in a recent study how cold exposure, and thus the activity of brown/beige fat tissue, affects tumor growth. What the scientists found was that cold exposure (in animal studies: 4 degrees Celsius!) strongly activates this fat tissue and drastically slows tumor growth. The simple reason probably is: this metabolically active tissue sucks up nutrients, particularly glucose (i.e., a sugar), from the blood, and the tumor gets less of it.
Get it? So there's competition between healthy, highly metabolically active tissue and the tumor. Here, the researchers managed, with the help of cold, to shift the whole thing so that it became uncomfortable for the tumor. Anyone paying attention will remember the two "maxims" mentioned above and understand that nutrients must be consumed so they don't cause harm. That happened here, through indirect means (cold and induction of brown/beige fat tissue).
Could also apply to coronavirus. But that's another topic.
What's "amusing" is a side note. The researchers used a tool called a PET scan for the experiment. Some cancer patients probably know it. Radioactive glucose (i.e., sugar) is injected, which the tumor absorbs very intensely. Using imaging, you can then see exactly where some (not all!) tumor sites are in the body. Anyone who's been there knows that patients then have to stay very still and can't get cold. Reason: the injected sugar would otherwise be consumed by metabolically active tissues... and less by the tumor, which then wouldn't be clearly visible.
One could think further at this point... right? Just flip it around. That's what the researchers did in this study. And they impressively showed: you need a healthy, energy-consuming metabolism. The food you eat must be burned off and shouldn't pile up elsewhere, as is common in today's affluent societies. Because then the tumor has an easy time.
In closing, an important note: This doesn't mean you should take this study literally and constantly bathe in ice water. It's about the principle behind it—that you must actively burn the energy you consume! Just to be clear about that...
