The human body has two different types of adipose tissue – white and brown.
The white one is the one associated with obesity.
The brown, on the other hand, is like a kind of organ that is normally turned off, but which is activated by cold, and which then has an impressive ability to burn sugar to keep us warm.
New research from the Karolinska Institute indicates that the brown adipose tissue's enormous appetite for sugar seems to be able to deprive cancer tumors of the nutrition they need to grow.
Cold provides mystical protection
KI professor Yihai Cao and his research team are behind the study, which was published in the respected journal Nature.
They have investigated what happens when cancerous mice are exposed to cold for an extended period of time.
It turns out that their tumors then grow much more slowly.
This effect is only seen in mice that have functioning brown adipose tissue.
But the researchers are not entirely sure how the brown fat counteracts cancer.
- We have not yet fully understood the mechanism behind this, says Yihai Cao.
In any case, it doesn't seem that much cold is needed to activate the brown fat.
- No, it does not.
Some researchers have shown that if you put your feet in cold water for 15-30 minutes every day, it can be enough to activate the brown fat, says Yihai Cao.
"Very exciting"
Karin Lindkvist is a cancer researcher at Lund University and has not been involved in the study herself.
- It is a very exciting study.
How brown adipose tissue helps treat tumors has not previously been studied very much, she says.
The researchers have also seen promising results in a pilot study with a human cancer patient, but this is just the beginning.
- A single patient is obviously too few.
Larger studies need to be done to be able to confirm that this is indeed something that may work in the future, says Karin Lindkvist.