Leptin Lowering Diet

In 1994, scientists at the University of Michigan and Harvard Medical School discovered the missing link between obesity and diabetes. They studied mice and discovered leptin, which is a hormone secreted by adipose tissue. The study confirmed that white fat cells produce hormones just like other endocrine glands, such as the thyroid or adrenal glands. Leptin holds the key to why certain people become overweight or obese, but until researchers unlock how to control it, a diet geared toward lowering leptin is the best course of action.

How Leptin Works

• Leptin is linked to insulin control, weight gain and diabetes. Leptin works on the body in two ways. First, it regulates appetite and determines fat storage. It directs the liver on when to store glucose. It also affects many of your autonomic functions, such as reproductive health and even body temperature.

  Research suggests that if anything disrupts the proper balance of leptin, appetite control shuts down, because the body no longer receives the "I'm full" message at the appropriate time. In addition, the body also stores fat it doesn't need and releases too much glucose each time a person eats. Too much glucose causes the body to counter by releasing ever-increasing amounts of insulin. Many people eventually exhaust their pancreas, or simply become insulin-resistant, and develop Type II diabetes.

  Paradoxically, Leptin disruption can also cause anorexia, bone loss and gastrointestinal issues. It seems contrary that the same hormone can cause obesity or anorexia, but the reason is because the effects vary among individuals. If Leptin sends the message "I'm full" at the wrong time, before a person has eaten the amount of food actually needed, it will cause weight loss via appetite suppression. If researchers can ascertain exactly how the appetite control is switched off and on, they should be able to create a way to turn it off before full satiation in obese people, or to switch it back on for those who are underweight.

Strategies to Minimize Lepin Release

• The best diet for Leptin control is one that emphasizes good blood sugar control along with healthy fats. Because a body can become Leptin-resistant, it is important to only eat three times daily, with no snacks, since your body releases Leptin each time you eat. The more times you eat per day, the more Leptin is produced, which leads to eventual Leptin resistance (just like insulin resistance).

  Avoid eating after dinner, because your body needs as much time as possible to break down the food consumed that day. If you haven't consumed enough calories, your body will begin breaking down fat reserves to supply the additional fuel.

  It is also important to eat smaller portions, even if you are only eating three times per day. Chew thoroughly and eat slowly so that your body has time to recognize that it is full. The fewer calories you consume, the more weight you will lose.

  Other strategies for minimizing leptin release are to eat protein with each meal, especially breakfast, and to reduce--not eliminate--carbohydrates.

  The best food to reduce leptin levels is fish. A study of several African tribes, by Dr Mikolaj Winnicki of Padova University in Italy, revealed that those with the highest consumption of fish had the lowest levels of leptin.