Leptin
Leptin was identified by Jeffrey Friedman in 1994 by positional cloning of the mouse obese. It is a hormone that is produced by your body’s fat cells. It is often referred to as the “satiety hormone”. Leptin’s primary target is in the brain — particularly an area called the hypothalamus. Supposed to tell your brain that — when you have enough fat stored — you don’t need to eat and can burn calories at a normal rate. It also has many other functions related to fertility, immunity and brain function. However, leptin’s main role is long-term regulation of energy, including the number of calories you eat and expend, as well as how much fat you store in your body.
The leptin system evolved to keep humans from starving or overeating, both of which would have made you more likely to survive in the natural environment. It is produced by your body’s fat cells. The more body fat they carry, the more leptin they produce. The fat cells use leptin to tell your brain how much body fat they carry. High levels of leptin tell your brain that you have plenty of fat stored, while low levels tell your brain that fat stores are low and that you need to eat. When your brain doesn’t receive the leptin signal, it erroneously thinks that your body is starving — even though it has more than enough energy stored. That what is called leptin resistance.
Leptin resistance:
may be one reason that many diets fail to promote long-term weight loss. If you’re leptin-resistant, losing weight still reduces fat mass, which leads to a significant reduction in leptin levels — but your brain doesn’t necessarily reverse its leptin resistance. When leptin goes down, this leads to hunger, increased appetite, reduced motivation to exercise and a decreased number of calories burned at rest. Your brain then thinks that you are starving and initiates various powerful mechanisms to regain that lost body fat. This could be a main reason why so many people yo-yo diet _ losing a significant amount of weight only to gain it back shortly thereafter_
Do Supplements Work?
Taking leptin from an external source is unhelpful. Except in the case of genetic mutation leading to lack of secretion of leptin from fat cells. Most leptin supplements don’t actually contain the hormone. While numerous supplements are labeled as “leptin pills,” most contain a mix of various nutrients marketed to reduce inflammation and, therefore, increase leptin sensitivity. Some feature ingredients like alpha-lipoic acid and fish oil, while others contain green tea extract, soluble fiber or conjugated linoleic acid.
Leptin resistance symptoms:
Is it difficult for you to lose weight? •When you go on a diet, can you drop some pounds but still look flabby? •Do you hold onto weight in your midsection, no matter how much you try to lose it? •Do you have trouble keeping weight off? •Are you constantly hungry? •Do you crave sugary foods and get “hangry” if you don’t get your fix? •Are you stressed out a lot? •Do you have high triglycerides? •Do you have high blood pressure? •Do you have diabetes? •Do you have Insulin resistance?
Why & When Get Leptin Tested?
Leptin testing is not frequently ordered outside of a research setting, but it may sometimes be ordered when a child has been classified as obese, especially when there is a family history of early-onset obesity •Some doctors may order a leptin test when evaluating an obese person to determine whether they may have a leptin deficiency or an excess (to detect leptin resistance) •Most obese people will have increased levels, but about 10% may have some degree of leptin deficiency.
•On occasion, the test may be used along with other tests, such as a lipid profile, thyroid panel, glucose, insulin, and/or A1c, to evaluate the health status of an obese person and to detect underlying conditions that may be contributing to or complicating their condition. •This test is used to figure out how much body fat you have. •Leptin secretion follows a circadian pattern, meaning that the concentration in blood will vary throughout a 24-hour time period (higher at night than during the day). •Hyperleptinemia reflecting leptin resistance plays an important role in the development of IR (insulin resistance) in obeseT2DM patients, making leptin a possible biomarker for the same.
Leptin diet:
- Eat foods that supply 20 to 30 grams of protein for breakfast.
- Don’t eat after dinner. Make sure not to eat anything for at least three hours prior to bedtime.
- Eat three meals a day only, with no snacking in between.
- Reduce your carbohydrate intake.
- Practice portion control at each meal. Don’t eat until you are stuffed. Stop before you feel completely full.
References:
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Anti-Obesity-Therapy%3A-from-Rainbow-Pills-to-M%C3%BCller-Clemmensen/1eeb67d1e7181e49525d5c41be18b884b90b1ed1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4195360/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23688008
Prepared By: Pharmacist. Ruba Noueddin
