Leptin Injections May Maintain Weight Loss

Doctors at New York PresbyterianHospital/Columbia University MedicalCenter found that injecting the hormoneleptin into their patients who hadlost weight helped them maintainweight loss by restoring pre-weightloss levels of leptin. The researcherstheorized that, after a weight loss, aperson's body is leptin-deficient, whichcauses the weight to be gained again.They then administered leptin injectionsbid to 10 patients who had lost10% to 12% of their body weight. Mostof the body's changes that typicallywork against maintaining a reducedbody weight were reversed once thelevels of leptin were restored to thehigher levels seen before weight loss.Lead author Michael Rosenbaum, MD,said that therapeutics that target leptinmay cause physiological processes tobe restored to their usual levels so that"our bodies would work with us, ratherthan against us, in keeping the weightoff."

Ms. Farley is a freelance medicalwriter based in Wakefield, RI.