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CNN Live Today

Scientists Study Hormone Affecting Weight Loss

Aired May 23, 2002 - 13:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In their never-ending quest to find out why it is so hard to lose weight and then keep the weight off, scientists may have hit paydirt. A hormone, they say, that stimulates appetite and then surges in people who have just slimmed down. Our medical correspondent Rea Blakey looking at us -- into this for us this afternoon. Hey, Rea.

REA BLAKEY, MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill. Personally I like to blame other people when my diet fails. However...

HEMMER: I like that one too, though.

BLAKEY: Yes, it comes in handy, you know.

There is a hormone called ghrelin that could turn out to be a major contributor in the unprecedented worldwide obesity epidemic.

It is the first hormone that has been found to trigger appetite in humans, and that is significant. Now the research so far is very preliminary, and much more research needs to be done. But a study published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" concludes that ghrelin, which is actually secreted in the stomach, definitely plays a role in the long-term regulation of body weight.

In fact, it appears to protect the body from weight loss. Now, this study, limited as it was, compared just 13 obese people who dieted for six months with five other people who had undergone gastric bypasses, stomach stapling, and then finally there was a control group of normal weight people.

Now, the gastric bypass patients had a steep drop in their ghrelin levels, almost 80 percent lower than people of normal weight. That may explain why people who have had their stomachs stapled are often able to keep large amounts of weight off for years.

However, among the dieting obese, the research noted that the greater the weight loss, the higher the post-diet ghrelin levels. So the researchers theorize that boosted ghrelin production may be the body's way of protecting against what it perceives of famine, because you are eating less food.

Of course, today's obesity epidemic proves that most people in developed countries do eat plenty, in fact way too much. Obesity is a global epidemic and a leading cause of illness and death worldwide. So since the discovery of ghrelin in '99, researchers have suggested that a drug might one day be created to block ghrelin.

Now, in the meantime much more research, of course, would need to be done -- Bill.

HEMMER: It seems like they still have a few holes to fill in. Is that a fair assessment?

BLAKEY: That is a fair assessment, but they are trying to plug those holes in, and one of the things that happened last year, there was a British study that in fact confirmed that ghrelin does trigger appetite, and then also this study we are talking about today -- one interesting note, the obese patients that they dealt with did not have higher levels of ghrelin than normal weight.

You would you think that that would be the case, that something would be surging these people to keep eating, keep eating. So once again, obesity a very complex issue which will take a great deal more study.

HEMMER: Rea, thanks. Interesting, nonetheless. Rea Blakey in Washington.

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