Hormonal
Acute administration of leptin directly suppresses insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells and lowers plasma insulin levels in vivo, leading to a rapid rise in blood glucose.
Leptin directly tells your pancreas to stop releasing insulin. In states of high leptin (like obesity), this acute suppression can worsen blood sugar control immediately after eating, even before long-term weight loss effects kick in. This is a direct hormonal signal, not just a brain signal.
Thus, leptin has a powerful acute inhibitory effect on insulin secretion. These results suggest that the action of leptin may be one mechanism by which excess adipose tissue could acutely impair carbohydrate metabolism.
Why this rating
Strong evidence across in vitro (human/rat islets, cell lines) and in vivo (mice) models with consistent results.
Source
Leptin rapidly suppresses insulin release from insulinoma cells, rat and human islets and, in vivo, in mice.
Rima Kulkarni et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 1997
DOI 10.1172/jci119818
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