Early weight gain in children linked to ability to produce the hormone leptin

Young children of African ancestry are more at risk of developing obesity if they possess a genetic variant that reduces their ability to produce the hormone leptin. Adults with the variant do not have the same risk, suggesting that leptin plays a role in the development of obesity at a young age but the obesity does not continue into adulthood.
This is one of the findings made in an international study by scientists at the University of Copenhagen, University of Exeter, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and others, who investigated the role of genetics in controlling leptin levels.The study has been published in the research, published in Diabetes.
"Our findings suggest that young children might be particularly sensitive to the effect of leptin in controlling their body weight," says Associate Professor Tuomas Kilpeläinen from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR) at the University of Copenhagen.
Understanding variation in leptin levels through genetics
It has long been established that the hormone leptin is released by the body's fat tissue and tells the brain how much fat is stored on the body - the more body fat a person has, the higher the levels of leptin. The brain uses this information to regulate a person's appetite and food intake.
https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/69/12/2806
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