The one-third of males with the highest lead levels as measured in the kneecap (bone lead levels as opposed to blood lead levels) compared to the one-third with the lowest lead levels were 42% more likely to die from cardiovascular death during an average follow-up of 8.9 years according to the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study.

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The one-third of males with the highest lead levels as measured in the kneecap (bone lead levels as opposed to blood lead levels) compared to the one-third with the lowest lead levels were 87% more likely to die from ischemic heart disease (reduced blood supply to the heart) during an average follow-up of 8.9 years according to the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study.

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Resting metabolism slows by 25 calories per day for every 2.2 pounds that is lost from weight loss due to liposuction surgery according to a 2009 paper by Eric Doucet and A. Schwartz from the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

This may be because body fat releases leptin, a hormone which decreases appetite and increases metabolism, therefore, by removing fat cells, liposuction may decrease leptin levels, and thus, decrease resting metabolism.

Studies have shown that giving leptin injections "reverse the effects of weight loss on resting [metabolism]," the paper notes.

This was much greater than the decrease of 15 calories per day seen with weight loss from a low-calorie diet, and the 11 calorie decrease seen with weight loss surgery. Read the entire article | Email this article

Fructose causes obesity by raising insulin, causing insulin resistance which causes leptin resistance which reduces metabolism and increases appetite says Robert Lustig, MD.

"Our environment is insulinogenic. We have to get the insulin down," Lustig notes in a slide show. Read the entire article | Email this article

Shortened sleep reduces leptin, a hormone which reduces appetite, and increases ghrelin, a hormone which increases appetite notes a review paper on the association of lack of sleep to obesity and diabetes.
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A dramatic increase in the consumption of hIgh-fructose corn syrup in recent years may help explain the recent obesity epidemic as explained in previous articles. One of the reasons may be that fructose does not stimulate the release of insulin the way that glucose does and thus does not stimulate the release of leptin according to a paper from researchers at the University of California, Davis. Read the entire article | Email this article

Feeding rats a diet containing 60 percent fructose for six months caused leptin resistance and caused them to gain more weight when at the end of the study they were fed a high-fat diet -- a weight gain of 50 grams in the fructose-fed rats versus 30 grams in rats fed a fructose-free diet -- according to a new study from researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, Florida, USA.

During the first six months, there was no difference in weight or food intake between the two groups.

Leptin resistance was demonstrated by the fact that food intake was reduced in in rats on a fructose-free diet when they were giving a leptin injection, but this was not the case in rats on the high-fructose diet.

Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that reduce appetite and, in some animals, increases metabolism. Read the entire article | Email this article

Leptin deficiency alters sleep according to research from researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA.

Leptin-deficient mice (ob/ob mice) had more arousals during sleep, and more frequent, but shorter-lasting sleep bouts, and also showed lower body temperature, in other words, lower metabolism during sleep.

They also did not recover as well from sleep deprivation when they were allowed to sleep. Read the entire article | Email this article

Obese people given two experimental drugs, pramlintide plus leptin, caused an average weight loss of 12.7 percent versus 8.4 percent in those given only pramlintide, and 8.2 percent in those only given leptin according to a study by Amylin Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, California, the company who is developing the drugs. The drugs were injected subcutaneously ( under the skin ) three times a day. The company suggests that pramlintide may help to restore leptin sensitivity which is diminished in obese people. Read the entire article | Email this article

Nasal administration of leptin reduced appetite in rats better than when it was injected into the gut according to anew study from Japan. Read the entire article | Email this article

Stress hormones may increase weight by interfering with the effects of leptin according to a recent study. Read the entire article | Email this article

Ghrelin blocks the appetite-reducing effect of leptin according to a study performed on rats. Read the entire article | Email this article

Leptin, the hormone released from fat cells discovered in 1994, that was once hoped to be a treatement for obesity, may contribute to hypertension, atherosclerosis, and an enlargement of the left pumping chamber of the heart which increases the risk of heart failure (left ventricular hypertrophy) according to a new paper from researchers at the University of Iowa. Read the entire article | Email this article

LEPTIN LEVELS FELL 53 percent in a group of obese people who lost 10 percent of their body weight according to one study. Read the entire article | Email this article

5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) dose-dependently increases leptin in mice, however, pretreatment with carbidopa suppresses this increase according to a study from Kobe Pharmaceutical University in Kobe, Japan. Read the entire article | Email this article