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Leptin, the Weight Loss Hormone

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009


It is generally felt that weight loss is about willpower and simply eating fewer calories than we burn. But if you have endured restrictive diets and still couldn’t make the scale budge, you may be someone for whom there’s more to the story. The latest research on obesity shows that hormone activity can make losing weight almost impossible. Much of the research highlights the importance of the hormone leptin in helping take pounds off. We found more on how leptin helps weight loss, by reading The Fat Resistance Diet by author Leo Galland, MD, an internist in private practice in New York City.

 

The Hormone Connection

Dr. Galland says that leptin is a hormone that occurs naturally in the body and is produced by fat cells. “The discovery of leptin revolutionized the scientific understanding of fat.” “Doctors used to think of fatty tissue as inert, just a storage bin of unused calories. What we’ve learned from studying leptin is that fat is a metabolically active and interactive tissue.”

 

By producing leptin and other hormones, fat cells influence the way your body functions. Through leptin, fat theoretically regulates itself. Leptin regulates metabolism and appetite:

  • It lets your brain know how much fat is in your body. As leptin levels rise, your appetite diminishes. As leptin levels fall, your appetite increases.  
  • It regulates body weight and stimulates energy expenditure. As leptin levels rise, your metabolic rate increases. As leptin levels fall, your metabolism slows.

 

The Solution  

People who are chronically overweight suffer from a condition called leptin resistance, says Dr. Galland. Lean individuals are highly sensitive to leptin -- just a small increase in body fat leads to an increase in leptin, which stimulates fat burning and appetite suppression, which in turn leads to natural and effortless weight loss. In contrast, in overweight individuals with leptin resistance, fat cells produce high levels of leptin, but the leptin signal isn't “heard” or processed, so it cannot stimulate metabolism or suppress appetite. This can make losing weight very difficult or impossible. To overcome leptin resistance and break out of this cycle, Dr. Galland advises changes in nutrition and sleep patterns.

 

Research at the University of Western Australia showed that a weight loss diet with a daily fish serving reduced leptin more than a standard weight loss diet. Dr. Galland believes this serves to indicate that omega-3s from fish can reverse leptin resistance and so recommends that his patients increase their intake of omega-3 fatty acids from fish, certain nuts or supplements as part of a weight loss program built from foods of high nutrient density. Of note: In the study, compared with an ordinary calorie restriction diet, the calorie restriction diet with the daily fish serving had a greater reduction in blood pressure and in risk factors for diabetes.

Sleep and hormonal activity during sleep also influences body weight. At Laval University in Quebec, researchers found that short sleep duration (five to six hours per night) was associated with more weight gain from fat compared with an average sleep duration (seven to eight hours of nightly sleep).

 

According to Dr. Galland, understanding how hormones affect metabolism is the key to healthy weight loss. Dr. Galland noted, “Obesity and its related diseases are not just about weight, but also about the hormones produced by fat. This latest research allows us to re-think strategies for achieving and maintaining leanness.”

Get more information and a free one-day meal plan with recipes by visiting Dr. Galland’s Web site at www.fatresistancediet.com/trial/.

Source(s):

Leo Galland, MD, is an internist in private practice in New York City. Dr. Galland is the director of the Foundation for Integrated Medicine and author of Power Healing (Random House), on integrated medicine, and Superimmunity for Kids (Dell) on preventive nutrition for children. MM

 

 

 

 

 

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