Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Exercise and Leptin: The Happy New Couple

Pairing exercise with the leptin enables the hormone to fight fat in overweight patients.

The leptin hormone sends the body chemical signals to stop eating and use stored energy. But researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine said the hormone did not work in overweight people.

Once exercise is added to the equation, however, the leptin seems to regain its power.

The researchers studied overweight rats on a high-fat diet. Neither exercise nor leptin alone kept the rats from gaining weight but once the two methods were used together, the leptin began to work again and kept the rats from gaining extra weight.

Scientists will be testing the effects on humans next.

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