Alternative Health Author Dr. Van Loan
Leptin is an important fat hormone that is produced by fat cells, especially white fat tissues. It is a satiety hormone that gives a feeling of satisfied hunger. Without enough leptin released into the blood, hunger prevails; there is little appetite suppression.
Leptin is considered a bio-marker for body fat; it generally increases with fat accumulation. It is the body’s primary fat storage hormone. Leptin is important to the energy balance of your body. It turns on the brakes of more fat storage by slowing fat accumulation. With obesity, the body resists and ignores leptin’s signal to stop fat accumulation. Fat accumulation continues.
Both insulin and leptin hormones are major regulators of metabolism by influencing energy production. Insulin affects the individual cells as a doorway for glucose through the insulin receptors. Insulin is dependent upon cellular insulin receptors, and these ultimately allow glucose inside the cell or not. Glucose is the raw energy material for ATP energy production inside each cell.
Leptin signals, via the brain, whether more energy from fat is needed or if it should be stored into fat beds. The ability to suppress appetite is a chief way of signaling the body to eat or abstain.
Generally when there is more fat, more leptin is present. The positive side of leptin is it signals the body that it has enough food. It acts to satisfy hunger and reduce appetite. With obesity it is not found to reduce appetite in proportion to its presence. A resistance to its signal develops so that higher levels lose their effectiveness and influence in appetite suppression. Ultimately fat continues to accumulate.
Animal research on laboratory rats found high amounts of fructose (fruit sugar) produced leptin resistance and raised the levels of inflammatory triglyceride fatty acids in the blood. Most prepared foods and drinks have fructose added and fat storage increases. Fatty acids turn into fat storage if not metabolized. Source: Wikipedia Health Encyclopedia
Leptin is very much influenced by CRP (C-reactive protein), a marker for blood inflammation. In diabetes II the CRP levels are high because of high inflammation in the blood. CRP binds to the fat hormone leptin and this reduces its appetite suppression ability; ultimately diabetics typically increase their abdominal fat. With lower blood levels of leptin, fat deposits accumulate. A hallmark of diabetes II is belly fat accumulation.
Leptin also directly affects the secretion of insulin from the pancreas’ beta cells…according to research by Boston’s Joslin Diabetic Center. (It is the world’s largest diabetes research center.) A decrease of leptin reduces the production of insulin in the pancreas. This makes worse the dieter’s problem because glucose cannot be easily metabolized without insulin. Excess blood glucose results in fat producing triglycerides; this results in fat storage. Both insulin and leptin are very important to energy production and regulation. They influence each other and are important determinants of fat accumulation.
