Many people today know the importance of leptin, called the satiety hormone, in losing weight. In fact, obese and overweight people are known to have low leptin levels. And that means they eat more.

In fact, leptin isn’t the only hormone involved in our sense of satiety.
There are a dozen substances that act along the “gut-brain axis”, some of which have only recently been discovered.

Some of these substances, such as the hormone leptin, have an anorectic action, therefore they promote satiety and prevent us from eating again when we are full. Today, a very interesting study has highlighted the role of lipocalin-2, another satiety hormone, showing that when this hormone is high after eating, hunger passes completely.

And that overweight and obese people don’t produce the same amount as those who are thin.

A SATIETH HORMONE REDUCES THE OVERWEIGHT

A study conducted by Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, the defect underlying the poor production of lipocalin-2 is genetic and is also suspected to be hereditary. It would be a major cause of being overweight.
Therefore it is wrong to think that those who are obese or overweight simply eat too much out of gluttony. On the contrary, we should stop thinking in this way, completely discharging the responsibility of being overweight to how much and how we eat.

Lipocalin-2 acts at the level of the nerve center and rises 45-60 minutes after a meal. The researchers found that by injecting this hormone into mice and monkeys, a reduction in hunger of nearly 30% was observed. No toxic effects occurred in animals. Lipocalin-2 has also been found to be low in humans if they are overweight and obese.

If the administration of lipocalin-2 were also safe in men, especially beyond the first two weeks, a drug based on this hormone could be created, capable of reducing hunger by a third. The fact that this satiety hormone has been used successfully in monkeys bodes well for the researchers.