Lose Body Fat through Freezing

Excessive body fat is a major contributory factor in heart disease, arthritis and diabetes. Now a new treatment known as cryolipolysis has been developed in the United States that helps to remove surplus body fat, and aid weight loss, by locally freezing the affected part of the body.

How does it work ?

The traditional method of physical reduction of fat from different bodily areas such as the stomach, hips and thighs has been by liposuction, where the fatty tissue is literally extracted through an incision in the skin, through a process of suction – hence the term liposuction.

The problem with liposuction is that it is a surgically invasive procedure that involves a certain degree of risk. When it goes wrong it can cause infection, scarring or hemorrhaging.

The freezing process in the new procedure triggers the decomposition of the fat – a process known as lipolysis, through temperature. The cold temperature causes localised inflammation of the cells responsible for the production and storage of fat, known as adipocytes. This disruption to the fat production process causes a net reduction in the amount of fat in that part of the body.

You can easily reproduce this effect yourself by sucking on a frozen ice cream. Whilst your tongue may soon feel cold and even slightly painful with the cold, what you may not realise is that it actually becomes inflamed. This is the principal of lipolysis in action.

What does the procedure involve ?

Clinical trials of cryolipolysis have utilised a metal plate about 12 square centimeters that is directly attached to the fatty part of the body for about twenty minutes and cooled quickly to -1 degrees C.

However because the process requires extreme cold in order to cause tissue damage, and the degeneration and breakdown of the fat cells, since the fat layer is beneath the surface of the skin, the treatment may require pain relief via a local anasthetic.

Diet and exercise are still the best weight loss tactics

The doctors who developed the treatment have cautioned, however, that this treatment should not be regarded as a future cure-all for obesity and weight loss, and is never going to be a substitute for a well balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, and a good exercise regimen.