Research
Hormonal
Leptin resistance in common obesity prevents the hormone from signaling satiety to the brain, rendering high circulating levels ineffective for weight loss.
In common obesity, your body produces plenty of leptin, but your brain doesn't hear it. This 'leptin resistance' is a key barrier. Treatments that simply add leptin have largely failed; effective strategies must overcome this resistance.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
However, in most human obesity, leptin concentrations are high, suggesting a state of leptin resistance [30]; whether this can be overcome by using pharmacological doses of leptin to treat obesity is unclear, but early studies have proved disappointing.
Why this rating
Well-established in literature, though treatment efficacy is limited.
Source
Neuropeptides and appetite control
John Wilding · Diabetic Medicine · 2002
DOI 10.1046/j.1464-5491.2002.00790.x
narrative_reviewCited 188×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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