The recent discovery of a ‘hunger hormone’ could lead to the development of new drugs to treat obesity, say British researchers. The hormone, called ghrelin after the Hindi word for growth, was found to dramatically increase human food consumption and is the first appetite-controlling hormone to be found circulating in the blood.
Previous studies on rats had already shown that the hormone increased appetite, however recent human studies revealed that ghrelin made people feel so hungry that they ate nearly a third more than food than usual. Results of the study showed that people who were given ghrelin consumed roughly 28% more calories each day than participants given an inactive placebo. Over a long period, such an increase in calorie intake could result in an individual gaining an almost unthinkable amount of weight. For example, a male weighing 75 kilograms (kg) would gain 15kg of weight over 10-years if his calorie intake was increased by just 1%.
According to the researchers, the results suggest that ghrelin could be used to treat cancer patients and other people who are in danger of becoming malnourished because they lose their appetite. They also raise the possibility that drugs that inhibit ghrelin could be developed to combat obesity.
SOURCE/ REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com and www.bbc.co.uk on the 11th March 2002
