Ice vests or daily cold showers could help people lose weight, study finds

"Researchers at the University of Nottingham and the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands gave half the participants an ice vest and waist wrap to wear for two hours every morning, while continuing their daily lives. The vests and waist wrap were worn on top of a thin T-shirt and contained gel-filled cooling packs that had been kept overnight in the freezer and maintained a temperature of 15C."

"In six weeks, participants lost 0.9kg (2lb), made up almost entirely of body fat, whereas the control group did not lose any weight and put on 0.6kg (1.3lb) on average. The lead researcher, Dr Mariette Boon, of LUMC, said: This is one of the first studies looking at the impact of cold exposure over a prolonged period of time, involving people with overweight and obesity."

"Vests like this can be worn at home and so cold exposure could be a simple and inexpensive addition to lifestyle strategies for weight loss such as healthy eating and physical activity. The study, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, concludes that cold temperatures could help speed up the rate at which the body burns calories."

"Prof Helen Budge, at the University of Nottingham and co-author of the study, said: Daily cold exposure activates brown fat, which uses body fat stores to produce heat. It is possible that wearing a cooling vest trains brown fat to be more active and has a healthy effect on lipids, glucose and inflammation in the body. All those things are preventative in cardiovascular disease."

A study of 47 adults with overweight or obesity tested whether daily cold exposure could promote fat loss. Half the participants wore an ice vest and waist wrap for two hours each morning while continuing normal activities. The cooling packs were gel-filled, kept overnight in a freezer, and maintained a temperature of 15°C. After six weeks, the cold-exposure group lost 0.9 kg, with the loss made up almost entirely of body fat. The control group did not lose weight and gained an average of 0.6 kg. The findings suggest cold temperatures may increase calorie burning and activate brown fat, which uses body fat to generate heat and may improve metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors.

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