Weight Loss & the Hypothalamus Gland

Weight loss boils down to a simple matter for most healthy people--a mathematical equation in which fewer calories are taken in than expended. However, it's much more complicated for others. Modern science continually provides new information regarding the physiological issues that prevent (or even reverse) weight loss. One of these groundbreaking insights into weight loss involves the way that the hypothalamus gland interacts with the fat cells to maintain a healthy weight.

The Hypothalamus

• According to the National Institutes of Health medical terms glossary, the hypothalamus gland is defined as "the part of the brain that controls several body functions, including feeding, breathing, drinking, temperature and the release of many hormones." As the hypothalamus is integral to proper body function, it causes scores of physical ailments if it malfunctions. One of these potential ailments is weight gain, sometimes to the point of obesity.

Early Research

• In 1946, a scientist named J.R. Brobeck published a pioneering study about the origins of hunger. He experimented with laboratory rodents, some of which had lesions in the hypothalamus gland. When these lesions occurred in one part of the gland, the subject mouse ate to the point of morbid obesity. When they occurred in another part of the gland, the subject mouse refused to eat (in some cases, starving to death). This experiment proved the gland's pivotal function in the experience of appetite.

Modern Research

• In 2004, Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, Ph.D., a researcher at Rockefeller University in New York City, added an important element to Brobeck's long-ago finding. His research group discovered and named a hormone called leptin, which is manufactured in the fat cells. Leptin "talks" to the hypothalamus, signaling it to control eating patterns.

Significance of Leptin

• To understand the way leptin affects eating, it's important to know how the fat cells use it to "communicate." Functioning fat cells always produce leptin. Therefore, when there is a large amount of stored energy in the body, those multitudinous fat cells are all producing leptin. The proportion of the hormone in the blood increases. The leptin "tells" the hypothalamus to stop triggering the hunger sensation so that the levels will reduce. When there is little fat in the body and the leptin levels are proportionately low, that deficiency triggers the gland to signal tremendous hunger.

Potential Leptin Therapies

• Dr. Friedman's study established two subsets of obese people who could potentially see excellent weight-loss results with clinical therapy: those with high levels of leptin circulating in the blood that for yet-to-be-determined reasons aren't communicated correctly to the hypothalamus, and those whose fat cells do not produce enough leptin to successfully make that communication. The first group is harder to help, since effective approaches to increase the gland's response to leptin are still in the developmental stages. The second group, however, can potentially be treated with synthetic leptin to increase compliance while following a strict, low-calorie diet.