The secret hormone that controls weight: All about Leptin

Have you ever wondered how you feel when you're full? When we eat, after a while we feel "Okay, that's enough." What creates this feeling? So why do some people never feel full no matter how much they eat? Leptin is a key player behind all of this. This is a hormone that is very important for our body's weight control. Let's talk about it simply and precisely today.

What is Leptin, simply put?

Simply put, leptin is a hormone produced by your body's fat cells (adipose tissue). It's also known as the "satiety hormone." Its main job is to send a signal to your brain that says, "Okay, you've had enough energy, stop eating." This is how leptin helps maintain a stable body weight in the long term.

Scientists discovered the leptin hormone in 1994, which means there's still a lot of research being done on it. Leptin's connection to not only weight management, but also to diseases like Alzheimer's disease, reproductive health, and infertility is currently being investigated.

When you hear the word "weight control," you might think, "Oh... so we can control leptin and lose weight." But the truth is, controlling this hormone the way we want is not as easy as we think.

How does leptin work in our body?

Leptin's main function is to help maintain our body weight. That is, to create a long-term balance between the amount of food we eat and the energy our body expends. Leptin stops us from feeling hungry unnecessarily. It helps prevent the body from signaling hunger when it doesn't need energy (calories).

Leptin mainly acts by affecting a part of our brain called the hypothalamus. However, there are receptors in other parts of the body that respond to leptin.

Most importantly, leptin doesn't control our hunger from one meal to the next. Instead, it works to control food intake and energy expenditure over the long term, keeping body weight stable.

Imagine you're trying to lose weight. As your body fat decreases, your leptin levels also decrease. This sends a signal to your brain that you're hungry. This causes you to feel very hungry and have cravings. This can lead to you eating more without even realizing it. This is one of the reasons why it's so hard to lose weight.

How are leptin levels controlled?

Leptin is produced and released into the bloodstream by white adipose tissue in our bodies. Therefore, the amount of leptin in your blood is directly related to the amount of fat in your body.

• If you have high body fat: your leptin levels are high.
• If body fat is low: leptin levels are low.

Over time, if your body fat increases, leptin levels increase, and if your body fat decreases, leptin levels decrease.

What happens if leptin levels get too high? - Leptin Resistance

An obese person has too much fat in their body. As a result, their blood leptin levels are also very high. We call this condition hyperleptinemia .

Now you might be thinking, "If leptin is high, you should feel full, so you should control your eating?" But the opposite is true. When leptin levels in the body are high for a long time, the brain starts to become unresponsive to that leptin signal. It's like someone constantly yelling at us and we become numb to it after a while. This is called leptin resistance .

What happens because of this?

1. Not feeling full: Even though you have enough fat in your body, your brain thinks you are still hungry. So you keep eating.

2. The body goes into "starvation mode": Because the brain doesn't receive the leptin signal, the brain thinks that the body doesn't have enough energy and that we're starving. So, to conserve energy, the body's basal metabolic rate (BMR) decreases. This means that the number of calories you burn while you're just sitting still decreases.

In this way, leptin resistance, on the one hand, increases hunger and increases the amount of food eaten, and on the other hand, the rate at which the body burns calories decreases. When these two things come together, the result is even more weight gain.

These symptoms can be caused by other factors, so if you're experiencing these symptoms, it's best to talk to your doctor .

What happens if leptin levels decrease?

Leptin deficiency is a very rare condition . It usually occurs with a genetic condition called congenital leptin deficiency . A person with this condition has a condition where their fat cells are unable to produce leptin.

When leptin is absent, the body thinks that there is no fat in the body. This signals the brain to be hungry and unable to control it. As a result, young children with this condition have an uncontrollable urge to eat. As a result, they become very obese (class III obesity) at a very young age and experience delayed puberty.

Can leptin levels be measured in blood?

Yes, a simple blood test can measure leptin levels. However, this is not a test that doctors usually order. It is only done in special cases. For example:

• If a very young child is severely obese.
• If an obese person continues to have uncontrollable hunger.

Typically, healthy leptin levels can range from:

• Women: 0.5 - 15.2 ng/mL (nanograms per milliliter)
• Male: 0.5 - 12.5 ng/mL

These values ​​can vary slightly from lab to lab, so if you have any doubts about the values ​​in your report, ask your doctor .

How do we adjust leptin levels?

There really is no way to artificially increase leptin levels to reduce hunger, because leptin levels are directly related to the amount of fat in your body.

However, there are several things that can help with leptin function and other hormone balance:

1. Get enough sleep: One study found that sleep deprivation increases the hunger hormone ghrelin and decreases the satiety hormone leptin. Therefore, getting a good, adequate amount of sleep every day is very important for hormonal balance.

2. Eat a healthy diet: Some studies suggest that high levels of triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood, can interfere with leptin reaching the brain. Although there are still differing opinions on this, it is always best to eat a balanced diet that includes vegetables, fruits, fiber, good protein, and healthy fats, while reducing sugar, flour, and processed foods .

3. Exercise regularly: Research has shown that exercise can help reduce leptin resistance. That is, exercise can improve leptin sensitivity in the brain.

If you are concerned about your weight, or need guidance on how to lose weight in a healthy way, it is best to talk to your doctor . If necessary, he or she may refer you to an endocrinologist.

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