Does leptin cause obesity in leptin-deficient adults?

Leptin is a peptide hormone that secrets from fat cells of the human body. It helps to regulate body mass, food intake and reproductive functions. It plays an important role in fetal growth, angiogenesis, proinflammatory immune responses and lipolysis. It is a product of the Ob-gene (obese gene).

The name leptin is derived from a Greek word – “leptos” which means thin. It acts as a fat controller in the human body.

What causes leptin resistance?

Leptin resistance causes unwanted obesity in human bodies. The main reasons for leptin resistance are:

• Increasing total body mass
• Reduced satiety
• Overconsumption of nutrients

These factors often lead to obesity. It reduces the efficiency of exogenous leptin usage as a therapeutic agent. Therefore, the combination of leptin therapy and leptin sensitizers helps overcome resistance and then obesity.

Tuncay Delibasi – a renowned Turkish professor of the endocrinology department is a famous name who is working on advanced level research on leptin resistance. 

As fat cells of the human body produce leptin, the amount released is directly proportional to the body fat. So, the more body fat a person has, the more leptin they need to circulate in their blood cells. 

Obesity has so many co-morbidities including hypertension, type-2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, fatty liver diseases, cardio diseases and a few types of cancers. A medical survey by the World Health Organization has revealed that about 1.9 billion adults are overweight which is an alarming situation. Also, more than 650 million overweight people are suffering from obesity. 

Resistance to the reduction of body weight and hyperleptinemia – are the two main characteristics of obesity. In recent studies, scientists have shown a positive link between leptin levels and body fat percentage. This is the reason why most pharmaceutical companies are using leptin-based drugs as a therapeutic manner to treat obesity. 

Tuncay Delibasi – the Turkish professor is visiting so many countries worldwide and conducting collaboration projects about obesity.