Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
In a recent tweet, Andrew Huberman wrote:
“For deliberate cold exposure to increase metabolism (short & long term) the key variable is adrenaline release, which shifts white fat to beige (thermogenic) & activates brown fat (very thermogenic).
How cold?
“This is cold. I want to get out, but can safely stay in”.”
He followed this up by posting this tweet:
“This is a great mechanistic review on cold and fat, in all its forms from
@CellCellPress:
cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)01454-9”
The problem? Although the tweet implies that increasing metabolic rate through cold exposure might be beneficial (because it might lead to weight loss), chronic cold exposure, in fact, has shown not to impact body weight, or even cause a slight INCREASE in bodyweight. (Reference: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.12978)
So while Dr. Huberman is right that chronic cold exposure may increase metabolic rate, currently evidence suggests that it actually might cause slight weight GAIN.
This is one of those misleading claims that, while factually correct, by omitting the bigger picture, is actually a kind of misinformation.
But that’s par for the course for Dr. Huberman, as I will continue to show in this series of videos on his consistent peddling of false claims.
In a recent tweet, Andrew Huberman wrote:
“For deliberate cold exposure to increase metabolism (short & long term) the key variable is adrenaline release, which shifts white fat to beige (thermogenic) & activates brown fat (very thermogenic).
How cold?
“This is cold. I want to get out, but can safely stay in”.”
He followed this up by posting this tweet:
“This is a great mechanistic review on cold and fat, in all its forms from
@CellCellPress:
cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)01454-9”
The problem? Although the tweet implies that increasing metabolic rate through cold exposure might be beneficial (because it might lead to weight loss), chronic cold exposure, in fact, has shown not to impact body weight, or even cause a slight INCREASE in bodyweight. (Reference: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.12978)
So while Dr. Huberman is right that chronic cold exposure may increase metabolic rate, currently evidence suggests that it actually might cause slight weight GAIN.
This is one of those misleading claims that, while factually correct, by omitting the bigger picture, is actually a kind of misinformation.
But that’s par for the course for Dr. Huberman, as I will continue to show in this series of videos on his consistent peddling of false claims.
