It circulates in
blood in free form and bound to proteins. Leptin levels in blood are higher
between midnight and early morning, perhaps suppressing appetite during the
night. The diurnal rhythm of blood leptin levels may be modified by
meal-timing.
Functions of leptin -
The following are
important functions of leptin:
• Primarily, leptin
regulates food intake and body weight. It acts on the specific receptors in the
hypothalamus to inhibit appetite. When fat mass decreases, the level of plasma
leptin falls so that appetite is stimulated until the fat mass is recovered.
There is also a decrease in body temperature and energy expenditure is
suppressed. Conversely, when fat mass increases, so do leptin levels, thereby
suppressing appetite until weight loss occurs. Thus leptin regulates energy
intake and fat stores so that weight is maintained within a relatively narrow
range.
• Leptin also seems
to play an important role in modulating the onset of puberty. For example,
undernourished and thin girls take longer to reach puberty than normal girls.
Thin girls often fail to ovulate or release an egg from an ovary during
menstruation cycles. Reproductive growth and fat stores are, therefore, vital
in the regulation of reproduction.
Leptin resistance -
Besides many factors
involved in the causation of obesity, an important factors is leptin
resistance. Many believe that leptin resistance is the leading driver of fat
gain in humans.
The main function of
leptin is sending a signal to the brain, "telling" it how much fat is
stored in the body's fat cells. Since leptin is primarily produced by fat
cells, obese people have very high levels of leptin. Given the way leptin is supposed
to work, these people shouldn't be eating because their brain should know that
they have plenty of energy stored. But the problem is that the leptin signal is
not working. As a result, there's a whole lot of leptin floating around that
the brain doesn't "see" that it is there. This condition is known as
leptin resistance. It is now believed to be the main biological abnormality in
human obesity.
Therefore, leptin
resistance makes the brain change our behavior in order to regain fat that the
brain thinks is missing. The brain thinks that we must eat so that we don't
starve to death. Simultaneously, the brain also thinks we need to conserve
energy, so it makes us feel lazier and thus makes us burn fewer calories at
rest.
Losing weight reduces
fat mass, which leads to a significant reduction in leptin levels. When leptin
goes down, this leads to hunger, increased appetite, reduced motivation to
exercise and decreased amount of calories burned at rest. Basically, the
reduced leptin makes the brain think it is starving and so it initiates all
sorts of powerful mechanisms to regain that lost body fat.
In other words, the
brain actively defends the higher amount of fat mass by compelling us to eat
back the lost weight. That is the main reason why yo-yo diets fail to yield the
results as the dieters lose a significant amount of fat, only to gain it back.
How to regulate
leptin hormone? -
Though leptin
resistance is a complex problem, it is not an irreversible one. The following
factors will help improve leptin response:
• Reduce sugar and
fructose consumption - Minimize using simple starches, refined foods, sugar and
fructose. Fructose is a major contributor to insulin and leptin resistance.
Fructose disrupts the signals of insulin and leptin, generally by over-taxing
the liver because fructose is primarily shuttled to the liver for processing,
whereas glucose is primarily shuttled to muscle and fat cells. By reducing the
consumption of white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, we allow liver to do
other things like burning fat
• Don't skip
breakfast- Your breakfast should include largely protein and healthy fats. This
promotes satiety and gives the body the building blocks to build the hormone.
• Optimize sleep -
Try to be in bed by ten o'clock in the night. Take steps to optimize your
sleep.
• Avoid frequent
eating- When you are constantly eating, even small amounts during the day, it
keeps your liver working and doesn't give hormones a break. Try to space meals
at least 3-4 hours apart and don't eat for at least 3-4 hours before bed. This
includes drinks with calories but herbal teas, water, coffee or tea without
cream or sugar is fine.
• Exercise regularly-
Your workout should include both aerobic exercise and strength training.
• Take more Omegs-3s
- Take more Omega-3s by consuming fish, grass fed meats, chia seeds and
minimize your Omega-6 consumption by consuming less of vegetable oils,
conventional meats, grains, etc. to get lower inflammation and help support
healthy leptin levels.
The bottom line -
It is evidently clear
that leptin - the satiety hormone - plays an equally important role in
regulating hunger as is done by ghrelin. Recently, lot of importance has been
attached to leptin resistance in humans, which is now considered to be the
driving factor in causing overweight and obesity. There are many factors
responsible for causing leptin resistance in humans. The majority of these
factors are related to our lifestyle. Initiating positive changes in our
lifestyle will help regulate the release of leptin hormone, thereby striking a
balance between food intake and body weight.
The article is about
leptin hormone, which is supposed to regulate our appetite and thus help in
maintaining a healthy weight in a person. Any dysfunction in the normal
secretion of leptin hormone can cause overweight and obesity in an individual,
resulting in an array of diseases.
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