Scientists are genuinely divided on this question.

Not medical advice — just what the research says.

What's still open

What the evidence found 3 findings
Based on 12 sources:
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
Harvard Health institutional View
PLOS ONE peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
PMC peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
Oncology Nurse Advisor news View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
Chronic Cold Exposure and Energy Metabolism in Humans institutional View
Brown fat thermogenesis and cold adaptation in humans peer-reviewed View
Effect of habitual cold exposure on brown adipose tissue activity peer-reviewed View
Based on 9 sources:
PMC peer-reviewed View
PMC peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
PLoS One peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
PMC peer-reviewed View
Harvard Health institutional View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
Europe PMC peer-reviewed View
Based on 9 sources:
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
Harvard Health institutional View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
PMC peer-reviewed View
PMC Research Article peer-reviewed View
PubMed Research Study peer-reviewed View
Sciety Preprint peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
PLoS One peer-reviewed View
What research hasn't answered 2 gaps
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
Harvard Health institutional View
PLOS ONE peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
Sources 21 findings
argumentation Unknown
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tree-leaf argumentation
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tree-leaf argumentation
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tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
2022 tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
argumentation Unknown
argumentation Unknown
argumentation Unknown
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Generated by reaso.ai's editorial pipeline: claim restated, scientific consensus classified via 3-run majority vote, 21 findings enriched with attribution and study type, narrative written in neutral voice. No individual researcher has signed off on this specific analysis — see methodology for how the pipeline works. Built with Claude Sonnet by Anthropic. Updated April 16, 2026. How we do this →

Written by AI. Sources are linked for verification.