Cold thermogenesis is essentially the process of strategic cold exposure for a sustained amount of time to lower one\u2019s body temperature on a regular basis. Why in the world would you want to do this? Same reason it turns out fasting is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Your body was built for it.<\/p>\n
Whether you believe that we evolved in this world or were created with it, it makes a lot of sense that your body would be engineered to not only withstand but thrive with exposure to extreme temperatures. If you\u2019re doing an infrared sauna on a regular basis, good, but that\u2019s only half the battle.<\/p>\n
Adinopectin is a hormone that helps the body break down fat and also brings sugar from the blood into the muscles which can lower blood sugar (more on blood sugar below).<\/p>\n
Most importantly, low levels of this hormone are consistently found in those with cancer, whereas high levels have been associated with cancer prevention. The same is true for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a brown fat found in the highest concentrations in babies and people who are often exposed to cold. Both of which really need to be able to warm themselves up in a hurry. Brown fat is found primarily in the upper back, neck, collar bones, and sternum.<\/p>\n
The interesting thing about BAT, is that it can burn the normal white fat found in your stomach, thighs, hips, and butt directly, and itself, without needing to exhaust glucose and glycogen first for the body to begin using fat as a fuel source. The more cold you\u2019re exposed to, the more active your BAT becomes.<\/p>\n
BAT has been shown to uptake blood glucose to be burned quickly as much as 12 fold during cold exposure. So in essence, your body turns into a raging sugar and fat burning machine.<\/p>\n
High blood glucose has been directly correlated with increased tumor malignancy. The more glucose your healthy cells can burn and get out of the bloodstream, the less that is available for cancer cells to ferment, which along with glutamine fermentation is their primary energy source.<\/p>\n
Healthy cells have much more metabolic flexibility than cancer cells and are able to switch back and forth from using glucose and fat for energy. The problem is, that mechanism is largely busted for lack of a better term in individuals today due to lack of healthy fats in the diet and an abundance of unhealthy sugars.<\/p>\n
The more we can jumpstart our metabolism with things like cold exposure, fasting, and high (healthy) fat diets, the more metabolically flexible our cells become. Healthy cells will survive these forced adaptations, the dysfunctional cancer cells will not.<\/p>\n
Autophagy is a very, very important mechanism for cancer prevention and inhibition along with overall health, and cold exposure has been shown to really kick start this process.<\/p>\n
Two explanations of autophagy Dr. Mercola compiled in his article on the process are as follows:<\/p>\n
As explained in layman\u2019s terms by Greatist:<\/p>\n
\u201cYour cells create membranes that hunt out scraps of dead, diseased, or worn-out cells; gobble them up; strip \u2019em for parts; and use the resulting molecules for energy or to make new cell parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Colin Champ, a board-certified radiation oncologist and assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center explains it thus:<\/p>\n
\u201cThink of it as our body\u2019s innate recycling program. Autophagy makes us more efficient machines to get rid of faulty parts, stop cancerous growths, and stop metabolic dysfunction like obesity and diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n