If you’ve ever lived with your grandparents or other seniors, you may have had some squabbles over the temperature setting being too low. That’s often because people feel more sensitive to the cold as they age. Research out this week appears to have figured out a key reason why this happens.
Scientists at the City of Hope Medical Center in California studied brown fat cells in mice. They found evidence these cells are less able to switch into their highly active state in older mice. They also managed to reverse this sluggishness with a drug, suggesting it’s possible to safely restore people’s heat-burning potential.
The findings offer a “fundamental understanding of the mechanisms underlying increased cold sensitivity in older individuals,” the researchers wrote in their paper, published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Humans and other mammals like mice carry three types of body fat: white, brown, and beige. White fat cells are primarily intended to store energy, while brown fat cells (also called thermogenic fat cells) play a key role in keeping our body temperature stable; beige fat cells can do both.
There are several factors behind why people may feel colder as they get older, such as reduced blood flow to the extremities and a less responsive hypothalamus, the region of the brain that helps regulate body functions like…
