What is Leptin?
Leptin is a protein hormone with important effects in regulating body weight, metabolism and reproductive function.
Recent studies with obese and non-obese humans demonstrated a strong positive correlation of serum leptin concentrations with percentage of body fat.
The 16 September 1999 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine reports the results of a year-long trial of recombinant human leptin in a 9-year-old girl who is homozygous for a frameshift mutation in her leptin genes (http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/341/12/879.pdf).
Summary of the report:
- She began the trial weighing 94.4 kg (208 lbs), of which 55.9 kg (123 lbs) was fat (adipose tissue).
- She was given daily injections of recombinant leptin for one year.
At the end of that time:
- she had lost 16.4 kg (36 lbs).
- Her appetite and thus food intake had decreased.
A new study by Michael Rosenbaum, M.D., and his colleagues at Columbia University Medical Center has provided new insight into the critical interactions between the fat-derived hormone leptin and the brain in response to weight loss.
With about 90 percent of previously obese individuals regaining their lost weight, Rosenbaum, working with Rudolph Leibel, M.D., co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University, were interested in developing approaches to help individuals maintain a lower body weight, since even modest, sustained weight loss can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Reference:
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/36284
http://www.gsas.columbia.edu/cu/news/record/thin.html
Max International and their MaxWLX Weight Loss Accelerator focuses on regulating the levels of leptin in the body to best achieve weight loss.