TV documentary on human hormones {26 Feb 2014}

[anjh-blue]

unfortunately i only managed to see the last 15mins of this documentary. A UK research team have found that giving people who have a heredidary family history of obisity 2 injections of 'leptin' a day keeps their weight down and in control. I was wondering why people with hypothyroidism who suffer big-time with weight gain are not considered for leptin injections?

[Moggie]

It seems that understanding this hormone is in its early stages as are the trials but, from what I could make out, it is a missing gene thing and not a control for obesity.

Moggie x

[humanbean]

Gaining weight while also suffering from hypothyroidism is unlikely to be caused by a leptin deficiency. Leptin is used to control appetite. The problem for many hypos is that they don't actually eat very much or have much appetite, but they gain weight anyway. I have read suggestions that body bulk in hypothyroidism is not always caused by fat, it is caused by deposits of a substance called mucin.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucin

[Hidden]

Good question but as usual Thyroid sufferers don't seem to be on anyones radar! If the research turns out to be good then we can add it to our Lobby list! There might be some extra info from the Harvard source that the Daily Telegraph used. Here is the item:

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

Leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone, was greeted with great excitement more than a decade ago with many academics believing that it could be a cure for obesity.

But hopes soon dimmed when it was found that overweight people became unresponsive to Leptin very quickly due to the development of resistance in the brain.

Now its reputation could be revived after researchers have found a way to stop the brain blocking its influence.

Scientists at Harvard University have found that the substances Buphenyl (4-PBA) and Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), both available in pills, stop the brain from ignoring Leptin.

Their findings, published in Cell Metabolism, suggest that it once again could help the growing weight problem around the world

[Hidden]

Oh goody: let's counteract the side effects of one drug with other drugs. Now, what shall we use to counteract the side effects of the drugs that we used to counteract the side effect of the drugs we gave her in the first place ... sigh.