A Lipid Hormone for Losing Weight

Senior author Dr. Gokhan Hotamisligil, professor of genetics at the Harvard University School of Public Health, said, “This hormone, a member of a new group called lipokines, is the first example of a class made out of fatty acids. All evidence is pointing that it is coming from fat cells.”

Investigators at the Harvard University School of Public Health (Cambridge, MA, USA) focused on the lipid metabolism in the adipose tissue of a line of mice that had been genetically engineered to lack the lipid chaperones aP2 and mal1. They reported in the September 19, 2008, online issue of the journal Cell that a localized increase in lipid synthesis rendered the adipose tissue of these mice resistant to the deleterious effects of dietary lipid exposure.

The lipokine hormone may be directly linked to the side effects of obesity in humans. As body fat increases, less palmitoleate is produced, so in obese people, the beneficial functions of this hormone in controlling blood sugar levels and preventing fat accumulating in the liver are diminished. “When you need it the most, you produce the least,” said Dr. Hotamisligil.

A Lipid Hormone decides whether to go for more lipid storage or to go for higher sugar in blood. Lipidomics, the study of lipids has a lot more to tell.