Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Leptin may be a hormone released from fat cells in fat. Leptin signals to the brain, especially to a neighbourhood called the hypothalamus. Leptin doesn’t affect food intake from meal to meal but, instead, acts to change food intake and control energy expenditure over the future. Leptin features a more profound effect once we reduce and levels of the hormone fall. This stimulates an enormous appetite and increased food intake. The hormone helps us to take care of our normal weight and unfortunately for dieters, makes it hard to lose those extra pounds!

Because leptin is produced by fat cells, the quantity of leptin released is directly associated with the quantity of body fat; therefore, the more fat a private has, the more leptin they’re going to have circulating in their blood. Leptin levels increase if a private increases their fat mass over a period of your time and, similarly, leptin levels decrease if a private decrease their fat mass over a period of your time.

Obese people have unusually high levels of leptin. this is often because in some obese people, the brain doesn’t answer leptin, in order that they keep eating despite adequate (or excessive) fat stores, an idea referred to as ‘leptin resistance’. This causes the fat cells to supply even more leptin. this is often almost like the way people with type 2 diabetes have unusually high levels of insulin, as their body is immune to the consequences of insulin. The explanation for leptin resistance remains unclear.

There is a particularly rare condition called congenital leptin deficiency, which may be a genetic condition during which the body cannot produce leptin. In the UK, there are only about four families suffering from this genetic condition.

People who are obese have high levels of leptin, but the leptin signal isn’t working thanks to a condition referred to as leptin resistance. Leptin resistance can cause hunger and reduced the amount of calories you burn.

Leptin tells your brain that you simply have enough energy stored in your fat cells to interact in normal, relatively expensive metabolic processes,” he says. “In other words, when leptin levels are at a particular threshold -- for every person, it’s probably genetically set -- when your leptin level is above that threshold, your brain senses that you simply have energy sufficiency, which suggests you’ll burn energy at a traditional rate, eat food at a traditional amount, engage in exercise at a traditional rate, and you’ll engage in expensive processes, like puberty and pregnancy”.

But when people diet, they eat less and their fat cells lose some fat, which then decreases the quantity of leptin produced.

“Let’s say you starve, for instance you’ve got decreased energy intake, for instance you reduce,” Lustig says. “Now your leptin level goes below your personal leptin threshold. When it does that, your brain senses starvation. which will occur at any leptin level, counting on what your leptin threshold is.