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Scientists say hormones may be the real reason you can't stop eating
Baku, March 12, AZERTAC
Scientists may have made a breakthrough in finding out what makes some of us keep eating when we are full, according to the Daily Mail.
It seems willpower may not really determine which of us have control over how much we eat.
Scientists believe they may have discovered exactly why some of us appear not to be able to stop eating.
The hormones ghrelin and leptin have roles in helping the body regulate both appetite and weight but scientists now believe that some people are leptin-resistant, meaning the hormone does not tell the brain when they have eaten enough, the Daily Mail reported.
Scientists once thought that obesity may have been caused by a leptin shortage, but in turns out that the brain of some overweight people is just not getting the 'full' message.
That means the brain works on the basis that the body is starving and so instructs the body to store energy - creating a desire to eat high-fat, high-sugar foods as they are easy energy sources.
The brain also quashes urges to get up and be active in a further bid to lower energy expenditure.
Cravings are made even more irresistible because leptin serves to suppress dopamine which decreases appetite.
German scientists have discovered an enzyme which acts as a 'switch' in the brain to regulate leptin, which may shed light on why some of us yo-yo diet.
Those people who could not produce the enzyme - histone deacetylase 5 - were leptin-resistant, the study in Nature Communications journal revealed.
Scientists found that weight loss occurred when they turned 'on' the enzyme.