People have become increasingly aware of how fitness and exercise is important to health. Obesity has become a major health issue especially today with people's sedentary lifestyle. Now there is more reason to exercise as researchers have found that it releases a hormone that fights fat.
Researchers have identified that exercise releases a hormone called irisin. Irisin helps in converting white fat cells into brown fat cells. Brown fat cells can burn energy better than white fat cells. Irisin also helps in preventing fatty tissues to form. The study is said to be first of its kind to look at irisin and its effect human fat tissues and cells, according to Science Daily.
Irisin boosts gene activity and a protein which is important in converting white fat cells into brown fat cells. Energy used to convert those cells is also boosted. With this boost of energy it then helps in fighting off fat.
Leading the study of irisin is Dr. Li-Jun Yang, Professor of Hematopathology in the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine. The aim of the study is to understand how irisin works and how it can help in converting white fat cells into brown fat cells, as Medical News Today reports.
The study involved fat cells taken from 28 patients who have undergone breast reduction surgery. The cells were then given irisin to study it. The cells began to produce the UCP1 protein which helps in burning fat.
"We used human fat tissue cultures to prove that irisin has a positive effect by turning white fat into brown fat and that it increases the body's fat burning ability," Yang explained. Aside from converting white fat cells into brown fat cells, Yang and her colleagues have also discovered that irisin can also stop the formation of fatty cells from developing.
Yang emphasized the importance of exercise in people. This starts by changing to a more active lifestyle. Through exercise the body can produce more irisin which can then help in fighting fat as well as leading to a healthier lifestyle.
Fitness is important starting in children, as an iTechPost news reports.
