Freezing Fat

Using cold to freeze off fat has become an increasingly popular method over the past decade. But does it actually work? Scientists say yes. People have two different types of fat tissue—white fat and brown fat. White fat is the fat that has the appearance of “chub”, that people work to get rid of. Brown fat, however, is used to generate body heat. Freezing the white fat can turn it into a cross between the two types of fat, which scientists have begun to call “beige”. They say that simply placing an ice pack onto a fatty area of the body can help burn away some of the fat, by beginning the process of transitioning white fat to “beige” fat. A study done by scientists at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine found that tissue samples taken from fat tissue in the winter had more “beige” fat, supporting the idea that the cold helps get rid of this kind of fat.