Ice vests or daily cold showers could help people lose weight, study finds
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- University of Nottingham and Leiden University Medical Center ran a six‑week trial where 47 overweight adults wore ice vests and waist wraps at 15 °C for two hours each morning, shedding an average of 0.9 kg (2 lb) of body fat while a control group gained 0.6 kg (1.3 lb).
- Dr Mariëtte Boon (Leiden University Medical Center) said the cooling vest could be a simple, inexpensive add‑on to diet and exercise for weight loss.
- Prof Helen Budge (University of Nottingham) explained that daily cold exposure activates brown fat, which may improve lipids, glucose and inflammation, potentially lowering cardiovascular disease risk.
- Dutch Heart Foundation and British Heart Foundation funded the study and are now testing whether 90‑second cold showers can produce similar fat‑loss effects in a separate trial of 34 women.
Why it matters: Overweight adults gain a cheap, home‑based tool that can shave nearly a kilogram of fat in six weeks, offering insurers a low‑cost way to curb obesity‑driven heart disease risk.
