Research

Hormonal

Low circulating plasma adropin levels are significantly associated with obesity, aging, and metabolic syndrome risk factors in humans, while gastric bypass surgery leads to a transient increase in adropin levels.

If you are obese or aging, your body's natural production of the hormone adropin tends to be lower. This low level is linked to higher risks for metabolic issues like high triglycerides and insulin resistance. Bariatric surgery can temporarily boost these levels, suggesting that restoring adropin might be part of why weight loss surgery improves metabolic health. Monitoring metabolic health should consider hormonal factors beyond just weight.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Adropin levels correlate negatively with BMI (r = -0.335, P < 0.001) and age (r = -0.263, P = 0.003)... Adropin concentrations increased after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, peaking 3 months after surgery (P < 0.01).
Andrew A. Butler et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2012

Why this rating

Large human cohort (n=130) with multiple studies, though observational for baseline correlations and small sample (n=19) for surgical intervention.

Source

Low Circulating Adropin Concentrations with Obesity and Aging Correlate with Risk Factors for Metabolic Disease and Increase after Gastric Bypass Surgery in Humans

Andrew A. Butler et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2012

DOI 10.1210/jc.2012-2194

cross_sectional · n=130Cited 197×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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