Fat-derived signal that might regulate food intake and fight obesity

As you push your chair back from the table, a molecule produced in the small intestine will be running through your bloodstream, ready to register on your brain the impact of the fat you’ve just consumed.

Researchers are excited but they have to be cautious. For now, the signal might keep body feeling full for a while. But, they are hoping that one day variations of this family of hormones — known as N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines, or NAPEs — can be used to control appetite and therefore obesity.

Experiments of mice have shown that the NAPEs work to suppress appetite or decrease food intake. But feeding is a complex behavior and there are a lot of factors that figure into eating disorders.

The findings are very interesting and exciting, basically because researchers have identified these NAPEs which are synthesized by the gut.  

These are some encouraging observations and NAPE’s presumably can be used in supplementary fashion to treat obesity in humans. [ read more ]