Why doesn't the 'fat hormone' make obese people lose weight?
Leptin physiology and pathophysiology: knowns and unknowns 30 years after its discovery
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Your fat cells make a hormone called leptin to tell your brain you're full, but in obese people, the brain stops listening well — like a radio with static. Still, some messages, like those for having babies, get through.
Surprising Findings
Lowering leptin with antibodies helped obese mice lose weight.
Everyone assumed more leptin = weight loss. This study flips it: too much leptin might be the problem, not too little.
Practical Takeaways
Don’t blame yourself if dieting fails—your brain may be biologically resistant to leptin’s fullness signal.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Your fat cells make a hormone called leptin to tell your brain you're full, but in obese people, the brain stops listening well — like a radio with static. Still, some messages, like those for having babies, get through.
Surprising Findings
Lowering leptin with antibodies helped obese mice lose weight.
Everyone assumed more leptin = weight loss. This study flips it: too much leptin might be the problem, not too little.
Practical Takeaways
Don’t blame yourself if dieting fails—your brain may be biologically resistant to leptin’s fullness signal.
Publication
Journal
The Journal of Clinical Investigation
Year
2024
Authors
J. Flier, R. Ahima
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Claims (2)
When your body has enough energy, it sends a hormone called leptin to your brain to say 'we're good.' But when you're starving and leptin drops, your brain slows down things like reproduction and metabolism to save energy—and if you give leptin back, those functions start working again.
Scientists know a lot about how insulin works in people with type 2 diabetes, but they still don’t have much direct information on how leptin behaves in the bodies of lean or obese people—even after many years of studying it.