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Why
is it that we diet and lose weight, but then gain it back plus
additional weight? Could
the answer be in the hormone Leptin?
With
a 61% increase in the incidence of obesity in the United States
during the 1990’s, the medical community is desperate to find a
cure for this serious condition.
A clue may be in the hormone Leptin.
Leptin,
first discovered in 1994, is produced by fat cells. It enters the
blood stream where it sends signals to the hypothalamus part of the
brain suppressing our appetite.
Leptin also causes an increase in physical activity and a
loss of fat. Sounds like the perfect formula for weight loss. However,
researchers have found that after losing weight, the level of Leptin
in dieters drops, leading to an increase in hunger along with a
slower metabolism. And
the pounds return leading to the yo-yo dieting cycle.
Researchers
have been successful buy treating rats with Leptin. Injections of
Leptin caused rats to lose weight and increase their physical
activity. But before you go rushing out to buy a lifetime supply of
Leptin, understand that humans do not necessarily react the same as
rats. Some obese individuals have an abundance of Leptin.
Researchers therefore suspect that the problem of obesity may not
necessarily be the level of Leptin produced by an individual, but
how efficiently your body is able to utilize the hormone. Jeffrey
Friedman, MD, professor at the Rockefeller University says “Some
obese people may make Leptin at a greater rate to compensate for a
faulty signaling process or action.”
According
to Dr. Sadaaf Farooqi of Cambridge University Institute for Medical
Research, “People have always assumed that your appetite was a
very simple behavioral feature, and actually we know that’s not
the case.”
For
more information, see the following articles:
Leptin
Helps Body Regulate Fat, Links to Diet
http://www.rockefeller.edu/pubinfo/leptinlevel.nr.html
Chipping
Away at Leptin’s Effects
http://www.hhmi.org/news/friedman.html
Obesity
and Leptin
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s65129.htm |