Socialising ‘keeps you slim’: study

According to them,socialising and meeting with friends helps boost levels of “brown fat” in the body which burns calories to generate heat,report said.

White stores calories and makes us fatter,while brown burns energy to generate heat.

Converting white fat into brown is notoriously difficult,normally requiring long term exposure to cold conditions or activating part of the body’s nervous system. But the study says having a busy social life is an even more effective way of changing white fat into brown.

Lead researcher Dr Matthew During said: “I’m still amazed at the degree of fat loss that occurs. The amount that comes off is far more than you would get with a treadmill. It’s usually hard to induce the switch from white to brown fat.

“It takes months of cold — you really have to push — and it doesn’t induce brown fat to the same degree as what on the surface appears to be a relatively mild change in physical and social environments.”

The researchers have based their findings on the analysis of the effects of various living environments on mice. Those who lived alongside a greater number of mice,had more space and toys to stimulate them,lost more weight over course of the study than their “couch potato” counterparts.

In fact,living in a stimulating,social environment was found to reduce abdominal fat in mice by half over four weeks,even if they ate more.

Increased levels of brown fat may also be attributed to an increase in a brain chemical called brain-derived neuro- trophic factor found in the sociable mice,say the researchers whose findings are published in the ‘Cell Metabolism’ journal.

Co-researcher Dr Lei Cao said: “After four weeks in the enriched environment,the animals’ abdominal fat decreased by 50 per cent. We often think of stress as a negative thing,but some kinds of stress can be good for your health.

“In fact,the enriched housing is more taxing for the animals as they have to deal with each other and with a more complex environment. The new result may offer insight into studies showing a link between loneliness and ill health.”