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Want to lose weight or overcome a chronic health problem like type 2 diabetes or heart disease? The answer is simple, but painful: go swim in a cold lake or run out into the snow just wearing a bathing suit. Crazy? Perhaps, but sudden exposure to extreme cold kickstarts a biological process that burns fat and helps the body fight chronic disease.
It’s all to do with a major discovery about the way the body uses energy. It was only in 2009 that researchers discovered our bodies retain a type of fat biologists had believed we shed in early childhood. In fact, the fat—called brown adipose tissue (BAT), or simply brown fat—stays with us throughout our lives, and its main function is to burn calories to maintain a healthy body temperature.
By comparison, our old friend, white fat, stores calories, and the fat that accumulates around our stomach and thighs