研究:參加社交活動能減肥

Keeping a busy social life amongst lots of friends may keep people slimmer than spending hours on a treadmill, according to scientists。

They say that socializing and meeting with friends helps boost levels of "brown fat" in the body which burns calories to generate heat. And by converting white fat which stores calories and makes us fatter into brown， socializing realizes weight loss。

The research team from Ohio State University came up with their theory by studying 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 far more weight over the course of the study than their "couch potato" counterparts。

Living in a stimulating, social environment was found to reduce abdominal fat in mice by half over four weeks, even if they ate more。

Study author Dr Matthew During said, converting white fat into brown is notoriously difficult, normally requiring long term exposure to cold conditions。

He said the degree of fat loss that comes from social activities is far more than you would get with a treadmill。

The findings appear in journal Cell Metabolism。據英國《每日郵報》9月6日報道，科學家稱，與一大幫朋友保持忙碌的社交聯繫比花時間在健身房鍛鍊更能使人保持苗條身材。

科學家表示，社交和會友有助於提高人體內“褐色脂肪”含量。褐色脂肪能燃燒卡路里，釋放熱量，白脂肪則貯存卡路里使人變胖。社交活動可使白脂肪轉換成褐色脂肪，從而達到減肥的效果。

美國俄亥俄州立大學的研究團隊通過研究小鼠在不同生活環境中所受到的影響，提出了他們的理論。

在實驗過程中，那些和一大羣同類在一起的小鼠，它們擁有更多的空間和玩具，這使得它們比那些慵懶的整日待在家中的小鼠減去了更多的體重。

科學家發現，經過四周時間，生活在興奮的社交環境中的小鼠，即便它們飯量增加，其腹部的脂肪還是減少了一半。

研究員馬修•杜林說，衆所周知，將白色脂肪轉換成棕色脂肪是件難事，通常情況下，(想要完成這種轉換)，人體就需要長時間暴露在寒冷的環境中。

他說，參加社交活動所達到的減肥效果遠勝於使用跑步機。

該發現發表在《細胞代謝》期刊上。