Overweight and Leptins
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My colleague Leon Chaitow has been following closely the science on leptin. This hormone is part of the energy and eating regulation system of the body, along with insulin and other hormones. He has developed the following system of weight control, and so far reports that out of 12 people who tried it out, 10 lost a worthwhile amount of weight. He has agreed that we can offer it for our patients — on the understanding that it is still in development, and nothing can be guaranteed. Crucial to survival and fundamental core level energy, leptin is now known to be secreted by ordinary fat cells and to have a regulatory effect on a number of other hormones, including thyroid, adrenal, pancreatic and sex hormones. It plays an important part in body weight regulation, eating behavior, and reproduction by acting on the central nervous system and target organs. One of leptin’s primary jobs is to communicate with the hypothalamus as to how much fat is stored in the body. This, in turn, can affect the metabolic rate for burning this ‘stored fuel’. If working normally, leptin levels rise when enough food has been consumed, which signals the brain to stop eating and increase metabolism. When leptin levels drop because food is not being consumed, appetite is stimulated. If food is still not consumed (including when meals are voluntarily skipped) and leptin levels continue to drop, this eventually signals metabolism to slow down and conserve body fat. |
This system probably worked well in the years of hunting and gathering, when food supplies were erratic - the body stored when there was plenty so that it could take from the stores when there was less. However, today, when there are food supplies on every corner, the body often may not have even digested (let alone burned up) the previously eaten food before more is consumed. Research suggests that extra calories from snacking are a weight gain culprit, reporting a 60% rise in the average number of daily snacks since the early 70s. Other reports suggest that snack intake in children may be less influential on their weight than the mother’s weight or the child’s dieting status. However a 2006 study showed that in both younger and older adults ‘eating frequency was positively associated with energy intake, and eating more than three times a day was associated with being overweight or obese.’ Overweight can have many adverse consequences including increased risk of heart disease and cancer. But leptin dysregulation also appears to be linked to chronic inflammation, chronic pain, alcohol abuse, infertility and bone thinning. This is the regime that has been used by Chaitow, derived from one set out in a book; Richards B, Richards M 2005 Mastering leptin. The leptin diet: solving obesity and preventing disease! 2nd edn. Wellness Resources Books, Minneapolis, Minnesota. You are welcome to try it; I will be very interested in how you get on, and happy to try and answer any questions you have. But I am not an expert in this field and nobody has all the answers on this. |