By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:28 AM on 26th January 2011

It already adds unwanted pounds to your winter fuel bills.

And having the heating on high could also pile extra pounds on your weight, scientists believe.

Experts say many of us now keep our homes so cosy that we no longer have to burn as many calories to naturally warm up our bodies.

Drinking tea in front of a roaring fire may be enjoyable but it could be encouraging your body to pile on weight

Cold comfort: Drinking tea in front of a roaring fire may be enjoyable but it could be encouraging your body to pile on weight

Modern centrally heated homes with efficient double glazing are helping to send obesity rates soaring, a study claims.

Scientists from University College London say it is an increasing problem across the developed world where average indoor temperatures are constantly rising.

And its impact on weight is made worse by the extra time we now spend indoors, whether working from home or shopping online.

Even when we do venture out, it is often via heated cars or other transport to offices and workplaces where the temperature is carefully controlled by air conditioning units.

The research, in the journal Obesity Reviews, said there was a direct link between 'reduced exposure to seasonal cold and increases in obesity in the UK and U.S.'.

If the body is already warm it does not need to convert a 'brown' fat known as adipose tissue into energy to generate heat, the study said. Brown fat was previously thought to be present only in infants, playing a vital role in keeping them warm, but recent research found it also in adults.

This latest study suggested that prolonged exposure to comfortable warm temperatures may permanently reduce the body's ability to burn this brown fat.

Lead author Fiona Johnson said: 'Increased time spent indoors, widespread access to central heating and air conditioning, and increased expectations of thermal comfort all contribute to restricting the range of temperatures we experience in daily life.

'This reduces the time our bodies spend under mild thermal stress – meaning we're burning less energy.

'This could have an impact on energy balance and ultimately have an impact on body weight and obesity.'

She called for health strategies to look at heating just as they currently look at other environmental factors such as diet and exercise.

Study co-author Marcella Ucci said: 'The findings suggest that lower winter temperatures in buildings might contribute to tackling obesity as well as reducing carbon emissions.'

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And to think people were whining about government cuts in 'scientific research'. Next they'll be doing another 'study' on which way up a slice of buttered toast will land in an unheated kitchen.

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Yawn, more government propaganda - it's not enough they want us to work long hard hours for little or no money and want to make housing unaffordable, they now want us to freeze to death too - under the guise of it being good for us. Perhaps freezing to death will reduce the benefits bill and help with the deficit?, (Sssh! don't mention tax avoidance or bankers bonuses) Take a look at reality, people from warmer climes are thiner. I and many like me grew up in freezing cold homes because of a lack of money to afford heating, this increases hunger thus more is eaten to build up fat which acts as insulation against the cold and I am fatter, it's natures way of keeping warm. Why do you think walrus's and seals have so much blubber? its because they live in arctic conditions and need to keep warm

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The next Tory cut....? To ensure that we stop heating our homes, the Tory government will encourage their power company cronies to rack their prices higher, price food beyond reach and let us stop die cold and miserable!

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I'm sure this is true. My home isn't centrally heated, and I have a storage heater, a couple of gas fires in two rooms, a wall fan heater in the bathroom and an electric panel heater to keep my home from getting too cold in the winter. In the winter my home is a lot cooler than other people's homes which are centrally heated and I really notice how high a lot of people have their central heating. Having oppressively warm homes which are over-centrally heated not only provides an ideal breeding ground for germs but also I've always believed that it's generally healthier to not have homes which are over-heated because it's better for the skin, etc. I happen to be naturally slim and all my family have been, and I grew up in a home that had no central heating which might have helped keep us all slim and healthier than a lot of other people!

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If this theory were correct, then people living in tropical countries (like Singapore for example) where temperatures are always warm and barmy should all be obese because we don't have to burn any fat??? If that is the case, why then are myself and a good 90% of the people you see on the street here thin, or of average size?

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The photograph shows a young lady drinking tea in front of a wood fire. Having spent months chopping wood this winter to keep warm, I can confirm that an axe is the best bit of outdoor gym equipment ever made. If someone writes an article about central heating, a roaring log fire and getting fat are unlikely to be mentioned in the same article.............

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