Word: leptin
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Researchers are learning more every day about how the body processes fat. One clue involves the hormone leptin, which is pumped out by fat cells and signals lab mice, at least, not to eat. Unfortunately, as reported last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it doesn't seem to work in humans. Researchers are still trying to figure out why not--and how to get around the problem. Another natural substance, called pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), seems to signal that it's time to stop eating. Mice treated with POMC boosters shed 40% of their excess body weight...
What's becoming clear to scientists in the obesity business is that the body's energy-processing system involves not one or two but a maze of metabolic pathways. POMC, leptin and brown fat cells are part of the story. But nerve cells have also been implicated in weight regulation, and it's not clear how these different pathways relate to one another. "Not a month goes by," says Dr. Eric Ravussin, director of endocrine research at Eli Lilly, "without publication of a new pathway that regulates feeding behavior, giving us new potential targets...
FERTILE FINDINGS When a woman's energy stores are low--which can result from dieting or exercising too much--levels of the hormone leptin start to fall, which may cause a drop in reproductive hormones. So before rushing to a fertility expert, try eating more and exercising less...
Researchers have developed a blood test to measure leptin, a hormone that tells the brain to stop eating. Doctors hope to help people slim down by boosting their leptin levels; with the new test, they can pinpoint those who need a leptin lift...
...LEAN PROTEIN Researchers, knowing that a defective gene causes mice to grow fat, purified the protein produced by the normal gene, injected it into plump mice and turned them into trim little rodents. Now scientists want to know if that compound, called leptin, will work on people...