After the Naked Lunch Diet and nose clipping, this is being touted as the latest fat-busting regimen...
Have you always hated the gym? Too lazy to go for a run? Then, this might be interesting for you. A new research says, if you simply shiver enough, you might lose the flab. According to the study, shivering mimics the effect of exercise, that is, it releases the same hormone, Irisin, that muscles produce during rigorous exercise. So, rather than getting all sweaty at a gym class, you receive the same calorie-burning effect from just feeling cold. This converts the white fat (fat on thighs, hip and belly) to brown fat (fat that generates heat and burns calories when stimulated). Interested already? Read on...
What the study showed
In the study, 10 healthy adults exercised in a 65°F room. They later lay down on a bed as the temperature plummeted to 53°F (12°C), which induced shivers in them. It was found in both premises their muscles contracted, producing a hormone called Irisin that boosts body heat and creates brown fat cells (colour comes from high iron content) out of white ones. It realised that shivering, instead of exercise, could be the primary driver of Irisin secretion.
'Too soon to call it a cure'
While it's creating a buzz, obesity surgeon Dr Jaydeep Palep says it's too early to call it any kind of cure. "Look, if I say taking irisin as a pill is going to have more circulating levels in the blood, still the role of brown of fat is not clear. Brown fat might be there in a finite quantity, but this does not allow all the white fat to be converted. There is always going to be a majority percentage of white fat — that is how the adult body fat is. So, it's early days to see how the brown fat burns calories. It might just be the wonder answer, but it's still too early to say so."
Agrees bariatric surgeon Dr Ramen Goel. "I would not advise this artificial shivering to lose weight. Brown fat is present in babies and goes off gradually. In adults it's present in neck and back areas. Using this as an idea to induce calorie burn is still to be researched," he says.
Other bizarre weight-loss fundas
Drinking oil: Yes, you heard right! As per Seth Roberts, a PhD in psychology who advocates 'flavourless calories', drinking up to 3 tablespoons of sugar water and one or two tablespoons of extra-light (not virgin) olive oil twice between meals can curb appetite.
Theory: It works on the flavour-calorie relationship, where tucking into various flavourful foods actually stimulates the brain toward more hunger.
Nose clipping: An online community of diet followers have tried this weird fad, where you wear a nose clip or pinch your nose to suppress flavours while eating food. Folks like it because it's painless, it doesn't take away your favourite foods or place restrictions on your dinner.
Theory: Smell influences taste, if you are attracted to certain aromas you eat more, resulting in greater calorie increase.
Plastic tongue patch: Created by a surgeon in Beverly Hills, this is about sewing a patch onto the tongue (not approved by FDA), actually stops you from having anything but liquids.
Theory: The patch and its sutures make eating solid food doubly painful so wearers are forced to stick to just liquids. Regarded as both dangerous and unhealthy.
Naked Lunch Diet: This one is as high as it gets on the weird scale. Apparently eating in the buff helps you control what you eat and a good honest look at yourself puts a restriction on your diet.
Theory: Eating this way makes you so self-conscious, even repulsed by your own flab, that you stop having those huge mouthfuls of food
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