Background. Obesity is one of the global health problems that has been a main attention today. According to what is learned, the main cause of obesity is one’s life style, including food and beverages, as well as their physical activity. In 1994, a new hormone was found, and was later named leptin, which functions to regulate one’s food intake and physical activity, and such this finding makes new researches in finding solutions to obesity possible.
Objectives. Hence, this literature study was done with the pupose of studying leptin in general, its mechanisms in the body, and its effects to body metabolism especially the one responsible to obesity.
Methods. The search for literatures related to this study was done through the internet. Most of the literatures used in this study are recent journals within 5 year-period and are journals of experiments discussing leptin effects to: obesity, diabetes mellitus, appetite, and physical activity; along with the journals discussing the mechanisms and function of leptin in the brain and peripheral tissues. The method used in the journals is clinical trial, which was done limited to experimental animals.
Results and conclussions. The study found out that leptin plays an important rolse in energy regulation, and leptin resistance leads to obesity. Moreover, leptin has an insulin-mimetic property, which is crucial for someone whose obesity was caused by type 1 diabetes mellitus, and vice versa.
Suggestions. Leptin is considered as a newly found discovery, to which it still holds much more possibilities for future experiments regarding the hormone, particularly in the field of genetics study. More detailed studies are necessary for the effects of leptin toward obesity: whether lepin resistance causes obesity, obesity causes leptin resistance, or both these conditions can interchangably cause each effect simultaneously. |