LAS VEGAS — The hypothesis that leptin plays a role in regulating appetite gained ground in a small government study that found leptin levels affect how long a person can go before becoming hungry between meals or full when eating.
Eight patients with lipodystrophy ate shorter, less caloric, more satisfying meals after injections of exogenous leptin brought their leptin levels to normal ranges for their weight, according to investigator Jennifer McDuffie, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Unit on Growth and Obesity.
After 4 months of leptin therapy, the patients had an average weight loss of 5% and better glucose homeostasis, Dr. McDuffie reported at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. The time until patients became hungry increased by about an hour, and the time until they felt full during meals was cut by about 40 minutes.
“Insulin, glucose, and triglycerides all decreased about 50%,” she said at the meeting, cosponsored by the American Diabetes Association. Ghrelin levels dropped more than twofold.
NAASO president Louis J. Arrone, M.D., of Cornell University, New York City, praised the study as “a very nice demonstration of the appetite effect.” He told Dr. McDuffie, “A lot of people question whether leptin has an effect on appetite, and you have shown very conclusively that that it does.”