Exogenous Leptin Works! At Least in Already "Normal" Weight Exercise Junkies - 19% Body Fat Reduction in 10 Weeks on Metreleptin
In view of the promising results from early rodent studies it came as a surprise that leptin, a "16 kDa protein hormone that plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure, including appetite and metabolism" ( Wikipedia ), turned out to be ineffective in obese patients, even if it was administered at very high doses. A recent Harvard study ( Brinkoetter. 2011 ) published in the American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology & Metabolism on April, 19th, does yet show that leptin does very well working its magic, if a patient's leptin receptors have not been desensitized by years of overeating. Figure 1: Leptin induced reduction in body fat percentage (reminder: notice the difference between a 19% reduction in the total amount of body fat and a 19% reduction in body fat percentage ) in amenorrheic women with hypoleptinemia after 10w and 19m, respectively (data adapted from Brinkoetter. 2011 ) Investigating both short- (group 1: 10 weeks) as ...