Every week there is a new product on the market that is hyped up to be the most effective at reducing weight. The most recent one is use of leptin. Leptin is a small human protein hormone that is produced by white and brown fat cells. It is also found in the brain, liver and parts of the brain. While its real function in the body remains a puzzle; it has been shown to regulate weight by suppressing the appetite center in the brain. Other work has shown that it may burn away excess calories.
There is a lot of literature on leptin on cyberspace and the majority of it is written by people who sell the product or promote it for some manufacturer. Leptin was discovered 15 years ago and is still looking for a disease it can cure or prevent. All the work on weight loss and leptin has been in mice and rats.
There is some evidence that obese rats when administered leptin may lose weight. Now there are hundreds of companies on cyberspace marketing leptin as a weight loss product. But there is not a single randomized study in humans that shows benefits of leptin as a weight loss aid. Leptin is a protein and is easily digested by acid in the stomach. So how an oral pill of leptin would work is a mystery because the majority of this product would be destroyed by the acid in the stomach!
Recently there was a leptin diet book published. The book goes into a lot of details about metabolism and the usual boring details about calories. More over these authors even recommend leptin to prevent aging. All the reports on leptin are anecdotal reports and most are by people who sell this product.
Leptin supplements are expensive and more likely a scam. Fakes and counterfeit products with health loss supplements are plenty. So if you really want to lose weight, start today by eating less and walking more; and stop spending your money on sham products. The only thing leptin does reduce, is the weight of your hard earned money.
