(Press-News.org) Whole body cryostimulation is a useful “add-on” treatment for obesity, research being presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Dublin, Ireland (17-20 May) suggests.
Levels of cholesterol and other blood fats improved twice as much in individuals living with obesity who were exposed to extreme cold for a short period of time, compared with individuals given a sham treatment.
Those who had whole body cryostimulation (WBC) also experienced a greater reduction in waist circumference and in blood sugar levels.
Dr Jacopo Fontana, of the Istituto Auxologico Piancavallo IRCCS, Italy, said: “We know from previous research that WBC can have powerful effects on the human body.
“It can increase the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, as well as act as a novel anti-inflammatory and antioxidant treatment, which together can have beneficial effects on body composition including the proportion of adipose tissue.
“A growing body of work suggests that WBC is useful adjuvant, or add-on, therapy for a range of conditions, namely rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions and long COVID.
“We wanted to investigate its potential adjuvant role in the treatment of obesity.”
Dr Fontana and colleagues studied the effect of WBC on body composition, blood pressure, heart rate variability, lipid and haematological profiles and physical performance in individuals living with obesity.
29 participants (12 men and 17 women, BMI >30 kg/m2) were hospitalised for a multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme (which included a personalised diet plan, psychological support and supervised physical activity) and non-randomly allocated either to a group receiving 10 2-min WBC sessions at minus 110°C in a cryochamber over two weeks (WBC) or a control group receiving the same intervention at non-cryostimulating temperatures of minus 55°C (SHAM).
Regular vocal and eye contact was maintained with the patients, who wore minimal clothing, including a t-shirt, shorts and plastic clogs, and had removed glasses, contact lenses and metal jewellery before entering the walk-in chamber.
Triglycerides, total cholesterol and HDL and LDL cholesterol levels fell in both groups, but the decreases were twice as great in the WBC group. After two weeks, average triglyceride levels had fallen by 17% in the WBC group, compared with 8.7% in the SHAM group, total cholesterol (20.2% decrease in WBC group vs. 9.4% decrease in the SHAM group), HDL (12.7% decrease vs. 6.3% decrease), LDL (24.7% decrease vs. 10.5% decrease).
Similarly, blood glucose levels (10.3% decrease vs. 2.8% decrease) and waist circumference (5.6% decrease vs. 1.4% decrease) fell in both groups but the decreases were much greater in the WBC group.
It is thought that these results are due to the low temperatures promoting the conversion of white adipose tissue to brown adipose tissue. In cold temperatures, brown fat breaks down sugar (glucose) and molecules of fat to create heat to help maintain body temperature.
Diastolic blood pressure decreased more in the WBC group (9.9% decrease vs. 3.9% decrease), while heart rate decreased in the SHAM group but increased in the WBC group.
Physical performance, measured in tests of hand grip strength and walking speed, improved to the same extent in both groups.
Activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, the branch of the autonomic nervous system that relaxes the body after periods of stress and controls heart rate, blood pressure, digestion and other “automatic” (involuntary) responses during times of rest, increased in both groups but the increase was greater in the WBC group.
Dr Fontana says: “Activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, or parasympathetic tone, is associated in clinical studies with mental and physical well-being and a lower risk of mortality, particularly with regard to cardiovascular disease.
“An increase in parasympathetic tone, as seen here, has potential short and long-term health benefits for participants.”
The researchers conclude that the temperature of minus 110°C in the WBC group induced stronger effects on metabolic and haematological profiles (glucose and lipids), body composition (waist circumference) and vital signs than the minus 55°C experienced by the SHAM group.
Dr Fontana adds: “Our results indicate that whole body cryostimulation is beneficial in the treatment of obesity. The improvements in blood fats and glucose were particularly striking but larger studies of a longer duration are needed to confirm these preliminary results.”
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
This press release is based on abstract PO4.183 at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO). The material has been peer reviewed by the congress selection committee. The research has been submitted to a medical journal but the full paper is not available at this stage.
END
Whole body cryostimulation may be a useful extra treatment for obesity
2023-05-19
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Boys need ‘lessons in bromance’ to tackle mental health crisis in schools
2023-05-19
Teenage boys are twice as likely as girls to die by suicide, and, when boys become men, they are three times more likely than women to die by suicide.
After years on the frontline of teaching and observing, first-hand, a decline in teenage mental health, a teacher has warned that we need to deal better with male anger, friendships, and attitudes towards sex in order to combat the male suicide crisis.
Official statistics for England, Scotland, and Wales show that in 2020, 264 people aged 10–19 died by suicide – 72% of these were boys. In England, suicide is the single biggest killer of men under ...
A ribosomal traffic jam that breaks the heart
2023-05-19
Fukuoka, Japan—A team of researchers have discovered that a mutation in a ribosomal protein found specifically in heart and skeletal muscle leads to impaired cardiac contractility in mice.
The mutation was found to delay the rate of translating mRNA, leading to ribosomes colliding and causing protein folding abnormalities. The abnormal proteins would then be targeted and degraded by the cell's quality control system. Moreover, while the deficiency in the ribosomal protein, known as RPL3L, altered translation dynamics for the entire tissue, ...
Illinois Tech project receives $1.6 million contract to develop system for authorship attribution and anonymization
2023-05-18
CHICAGO—May 18, 2023—Researchers at Illinois Institute of Technology have secured a $1.6 million contract to develop a groundbreaking system for authentic authorship attribution and anonymization. Using natural language processing and machine learning, the program, known as AUTHOR, promises to create “stylistic fingerprints” for reliable identification, while also providing robust solutions for anonymization. With broad applications including counterintelligence, combating misinformation, and even investigating the origins of ancient religious texts, the project marks a significant leap in computational analysis.
The project—a collaboration ...
Wayne State University receives grant to address health care and costs in state prisons
2023-05-18
DETROIT – Wayne State University faculty member Rodlescia Sneed, Ph.D. has been awarded a five-year Career Development grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health. Sneed joined the Institute of Gerontology at WSU in 2022 as an assistant professor jointly appointed with the Department of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The nearly $600,000 award, Maximizing the Scalability of the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) Among Older Adults in State Correctional Settings, is aimed to deepen her training ...
Catching foodborne illness early
2023-05-18
Produce such as lettuce and spinach is routinely tested for foodborne pathogenic bacteria like salmonella, listeria monocytogenes and pathogenic types of E. coli in an effort to protect consumers from getting sick.
Rapid testing of foods may occur, but it still takes time to figure out who is sick and from where the contaminated product originated. That’s far too late for the many Americans who already ate the produce. The current solution, often a multi-state recall, then becomes damage control.
University of Delaware researchers want to spot these bacteria before anyone ever falls ill. As detailed in an article published ...
NASA releases new solar eclipse educational materials
2023-05-18
To help learners of all ages understand how to safely observe the Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse and the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse, NASA has released a new set of resources for educators.
My NASA Data, in collaboration with the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT), has released a new set of resources for educators centered around solar eclipses. My NASA Data allows students in grades 3 through 12 and their teachers to analyze and interpret NASA mission data. It also supports educators in the integration of authentic Earth systems data into their instruction.
The My NASA Data solar eclipse ...
Study reveals novel action mechanism of corticosteroids in combating inflammation caused by COVID-19
2023-05-18
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a class of corticosteroids called glucocorticoids (GCs) have become established as one of the main treatment options, especially for severe cases, thanks to their anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant action. Brazilian researchers recently discovered new ways in which these drugs influence the organism’s inflammatory response during an infection: they raise levels of endocannabinoids (eCBs), molecules produced by the organism itself and that bind to the same receptor as cannabidiol; and they lower blood levels of platelet-activating factor (PAF), a lipidic mediator of inflammation and clotting.
The ...
Study: Wildfire spread risk increases where trees, shrubs replace grasses
2023-05-18
Across the United States over the past decade, an average of over 61,000 wildfires have burned some 7.2 million acres per year. Once a wildfire starts spreading, the firefighting task is exacerbated by issues like spot fires, where winds carry lofted sparks and start new fires outside of the original fire perimeter. The greater the potential spot fire distance, the more difficult wildfires are to monitor, control and suppress.
A new study, led by University of Florida forest management researcher Victoria Donovan, found that as woody ...
Novel virtual coronary roadmap tool reduces volume of iodinated contrast needed during percutaneous coronary interventions
2023-05-18
Phoenix, AZ (May 18, 2023)- Results from Dynamic Coronary Roadmap for Contrast Reduction (DCR4Contrast), a multi-center prospective, unblinded, randomized controlled trial were presented today as late-breaking clinical research at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) 2023 Scientific Sessions. The trial found that Dynamic Coronary Roadmap (DCR), a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) navigation support tool developed by health technology company Philips, effectively reduces iodinated contrast during PCI.
Iodinated contrast is used to enhance the ability ...
First-of-its-kind study confirms safety of distal radial artery access for cardiac catheterization
2023-05-18
Phoenix, AZ (May 18, 2023)- One-year findings from the Distal versus Proximal Radial Artery Access for Cardiac Catheterization and Intervention (DIPRA) study were presented today as late-breaking clinical research at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) 2023 Scientific Sessions. The single-center, randomized-controlled trial evaluated outcomes of hand function and effectiveness of conventional proximal radial artery (PRA) access compared to distal radial artery (DRA) access for cardiac catheterization.
Current guidelines for patients undergoing percutaneous intervention recommend PRA access. A complication of PRA is radial artery occlusion, ...