Cellulite, thermogenesis and brown fat

Can brown fat thermogenesis reduce cellulite?

We are pleased to share our experience in cellulite and skin tightening from our clinic in London with everyone in the world. Check all our articles here. And if you do live in London, feel free to book a treatment with us here.

• White fat, beige fat, brown fat and cellulite

• Brown fat thermogenesis: the holy grail of fat reduction

• 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

• Beige adipocytes Are a Distinct Type of Thermogenic Fat Cell in Mouse and Human

• Check our professional consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, ultrasound and radiofrequency

White fat, beige fat, brown fat and cellulite

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 of fat reduction

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 burn fat for energy and help with the fight against overweight, 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.

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 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 previously was 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).

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, 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 fat 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.

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.”

Check our professional consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, ultrasound and radiofrequency

If you are a therapist or clinic owner and are interested in our professional consultancy/teaching, via Zoom or at our London practice, please contact us here.