By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Exercising on a stationary
bicycle burns significantly more fat when the waist, hip, and
thighs are warmed with water-filtered infrared-A (wIRA) during
the workout, according to a study conducted in Germany.
Fatty tissue contains a large amount of energy and normally
has a slow metabolism with low tissue temperature. Previous
studies have shown that wIRA increases tissue temperature and
local metabolism.
It seemed “physiologically plausible” that warming and
metabolic increase of fatty tissue by wIRA simultaneously
combined with moderate physical exercise would favor regional
fat burning more than exercise alone, Dr. Gerd Hoffmann from
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt/Main.
They showed this to be the case in a controlled study in
which 40 obese women exercised on a stationary bicycle for 45
minutes three times per week for 4 weeks. The women were
randomly assigned to exercise with or without wIRA.
An irradiation unit called the Hydrosun 6000 (Hydrosun
Medizintechnik, Mllheim, Germany) was used to irradiate the
waist, hip, and thighs.
“wIRA mainly consists of radiation with good penetration
into tissue, similar to sun heat radiation in moderate climatic
zones, which is filtered by water vapor in the atmosphere,”
Hoffmann explained. The radiators are cylindrical in shape,
approximately 40 cm long and need only an electrical power
supply.
According to their report, published in the online journal
GMS German Medical Science, the sum of circumferences of the
waist, hips and both thighs decreased during the 4 weeks
significantly more in the wIRA group than in the control group
.
Moreover, body weight and fat mass decreased markedly more
in the wIRA group than in the control group. The wIRA group
lost approximately 4 pounds, while the control group lost no
weight.
There were no “undesired effects” seen with wIRA in the
study. On the contrary, some of the women found the wIRA
irradiation “pleasant and relaxing” for the muscles, Hoffmann
said.
“The results of the study indicate that wIRA irradiation
during moderate ergometer endurance exercise can be used — in
combination with an appropriate nutrition — to improve body
composition, especially local fat distribution, and reduction
of fat and body weight in obese persons,” Hoffmann said.
“Longer periods than the investigated 4 weeks can be
assumed to be even more effective,” he added.
SOURCE: GMS German Medical Sciences 2006.
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