STONY BROOK, N.Y. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- About two-thirds of Americans are
overweight, and about 20 million suffer from osteoporosis. What if standing on a
vibrating platform could help people like these make more bone and less fat?
That's what researchers are studying -- and it's giving them new insight on two
very serious medical problems.
You'll try running … pedaling … and climbing. Anything to shed those pounds!
And remember those vibrating exercise machines that promised weight loss? Now,
researchers are studying the effects of vibration -- with surprising results!
Mice that stood on this platform for 15 minutes a day formed more bone mass and
less fat.
"The funny connection between bone and fat is they all come from the same cell,"
Clinton Rubin, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at
the State University of New York in Stony Brook, told Ivanhoe.
That stem cell can become muscle, bone or fat. Scientists believe the gentle
vibrations cause the cell to turn into bone to tolerate the jiggling.
"So, it's a different way of thinking about why we become obese," Dr. Rubin
said.
In the study, mice exposed to the vibrating platform formed about 30 percent
less fat.
The platform also showed promise in humans. Postmenopausal women who stood on
the vibrating plate maintained their bone mass, while those who didn't lost
about 3 percent. Rubin says tennis players are a good example of how shaking
leads to bigger bones. They have 35 percent more bone in their playing arms.
These vibrations may one day be a simple way to fight both osteoporosis and
obesity -- problems that plague millions of Americans.
One important note: Researchers say the vibrations do not remove fat cells --
they just help fewer to become fat cells. Rubin warns that high magnitude
vibrations are extremely dangerous, so this isn't something you should try at
home. The jiggling sensations used in this study were extremely low level
vibrations.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Nubia Andrade
Department of Biomedical Engineering
State University of New York
Stony Brook, NY
(631) 632-2302
nandrade@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
