The internet attack is selling Alpilean, an expensive dietary supplement with Himalayan Alps ingredients, often known as the alpine ice hack.
Many diet trends and supplements have a nugget of scientific proof, but it's typically overstated or misconstrued. Alpilean sellers say low internal body temperature causes belly fat.
Based on a 2020 Stanford University School of Medicine study, our collective core body temperature in the U.S. has declined by 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since the 1800s.
The Alpilean designers assumed that lowering inner body temperature caused rising U.S. obesity rates. However, Stanford University professor of medicine, epidemiology, and population health Julie Parsonnet, co-author of the Stanford study, said it's not that straightforward.
She noted our body temperature, a rudimentary metabolic rate indicator, has declined as the population has become overweight.
She believes other factors have happened simultaneously, including more calorie-dense diet, sedentary lifestyle, lower infectious diseases, and air conditioning and heating.
“Our immune systems, which consume calories and raise temperature, were likely much more active in the past. Our body germs are distinct and produce heat, she says.
The diet blames obesity on low internal body temperature, although the theory is flawed. The association between body temperature and weight has been studied for years, but the results are inconsistent.
Low body temperature may lead someone to obesity due to a "thermogenic handicap," or trouble burning calories. The newest opinion is that obesity does not lower core body temperature.
The Alpilean website quotes a Swiss International Journal of Obesity study that contradicts their claim. The corporation claims weight decreases body warmth, but the study found the opposite.