Why bother exercising when you can just stand on a vibrating platform? This is potentially the question raised by a paper published this week in PNAS. In it Clinton Rubin, of State University of New York, Stony Brook, and colleagues report that putting mice on a vibrating platform for 15 minutes every day made them leaner than a control group (AFP, National Geographic). There was a small reduction in overall weight but the vibrated mice also had 27.4% less fat in their torso than controls.

The paper suggests the vibration inhibited the formation of fat cells from stem cells. “It’s very exciting. It’s a whole new concept of fat moving from one depot to another," study author Clifford Rosen told his local paper the Portland Press Herald.

There are some points to raise though. The paper says differences in food consumption between the two groups cannot be the cause but it would seem possible that the vibrating could tone up muscles slightly, resulting in increased energy use. Also, the paper has not been traditionally peer reviewed, it’s published as a ‘communicated’ paper. This means a member of the NAS has submitted it along with two reviews of the member’s choosing.

Some sceptical scientists are present in New Scientist’s coverage.

So don’t run out and buy a vibrating bed just yet. Firstly because the vibrations used in this study are much softer than those in commercial products. Secondly because Rosen has already set up a company and submitted a patent for his own products…

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