The Skinny On Brown Fat: What It Is + How To Activate It Naturally

Body fat has gotten a bad rap over the past few decades. From the demonization of dietary fats in '90s fad diets to the overwhelming societal pressure to lose excess body fat, there's an air of cruelty surrounding all fat-focused topics of conversation.

But the truth is, we need fat. It's not only completely normal to have body fat—it's absolutely essential for our general health (especially for women). Fat is where our bodies store energy, how we absorb essential nutrients, and even critically supports menstruation and reproductive health.

Brown fat, aka brown adipose tissue (BAT), helps produce body heat in a metabolic process called thermogenesis1. Because brown fat cells contain more mitochondria than white fat cells, BAT is able to convert energy from food into heat at a higher rate of efficiency.

Brown fat gets activated when your body temperature drops in cold conditions. While you can simply expose yourself to cold conditions (think working out in the snow or plunging in an ice bath), there are other ways to activate brown fat naturally.

A process called diet-induced thermogenesis (an important component of daily energy expenditure) occurs during the digestion and absorption of certain nutrients. For example: Key phytochemicals found in foods and supplements—such as capsinoids3 in cayenne pepper, and EGCG4 in green tea—have been found to activate BAT thermogenesis.*

Not all fat is created equal—when activated, brown fat (aka brown adipose tissue), burns energy to produce body heat in a metabolic process called thermogenesis.

To help activate brown fat naturally, consider taking a quality metabolism booster supplement that contains botanical ingredients that support thermogenesis (e.g., cayenne pepper and EGCG from green tea), like mbg's metabolism+.