Research
Hormonal
Leptin regulates body weight by acting on hypothalamic arcuate nucleus neurons, specifically by inhibiting NPY/AGRP (anabolic) neurons and stimulating POMC/CART (catabolic) neurons.
Your body uses leptin to tell your brain how much fat you have. In obesity, this signal is often ignored (resistance). Simply having high leptin (from high body fat) doesn't fix the problem because the brain's receptors aren't responding correctly. The focus should be on improving metabolic health rather than just leptin levels.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
Two leptin-sensitive neuronal populations in the arcuate nucleus have well described, mutually antagonistic effects on energy homeostasis: the NPY/AGRP and POMC/CART cells. ... leptin-sensitive NPY/AGRP neurons produce anabolic effects and leptin-sensitive POMC/ CART neurons elicit catabolic responses.
Why this rating
Based on extensive genetic models (ob/ob, db/db) and receptor expression studies.
Source
Leptin Sensitive Neurons in the Hypothalamus
David S. Baskin et al. · Hormone and Metabolic Research · 1999
DOI 10.1055/s-2007-978751
narrative_reviewCited 171×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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