"To inflame, or not to inflame, that is the leptin." - Not Shakespeare
In another post on this blog, I talk a lot about Leptin Resistance. There seems to be a tight correlation between Leptin Resistance and Insulin Resistance. And we all know that imbalanced insulin can wreak havoc on our bodies.
We now also know that in addition to being a satiety signal, Leptin is used in other locations in our bodies and is actively involved in our immune system response.
Leptin was first discovered in 1994 so we now know a fair amount about it at least in relation to satiety. It wasn't until recently however, that doctors and scientists began studying the correlation between Leptin and immune systems.
As it turns out, Leptin plays a huge role in our immune system. But before we get to that, let's talk briefly about its core function.
When we have enough Leptin in our bodies, the hunger goes away because there's a signal from the fat cell to the brain (specifically the hypothalamus) telling the brain that we have enough nutrition or food. But when Leptin is low, you are hungry.
Leptin is made by the fat cells as well as the intestinal cells (the ladder you won't hear about very often). And this is where the problem arises...chronically high levels of Leptin start causing what's called Leptin Resistance.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the blog post, this is very similar to insulin resistance where you have these high levels of insulin (usually produced by consuming a lot of carbohydrates) and what happens over time is that your receptors start to downgrade and now you can't absorb that hormone anymore.
The same exact thing happens with Leptin. High levels of Leptin over a long period of time desensitize the receptor and then you don't get a lot of absorption of that hormone. That means the feedback loops that are supposed to go back to the fat cells really don't because of the blockage of the receptor, so the fat cell keeps making more and more and more.
At this point, inside of your body there's so much Leptin but it's not working, so you begin experiencing symptoms of a Leptin deficiency starting and an excess as well. And another purpose of Leptin is to suppress both parts of the immune system. It's supposed to calm information down.
People who don't have enough Leptin in their bodies are at high-risk of getting an auto-immune disease because they have way too much inflammation. When you have a lot of inflammation in your body, your body is actually weaker.
A lot of studies have been done over the years and I wanted to share just some of the core findings with you on this post. If you like the real nerdy stuff, I link to some sources at the bottom of the following section.
This is where things get a little technical...okay, very technical. If this feels like it's over your head, make sure you've first read my blog post "What is Leptin?" first.
Leptin exerts protective anti-inflammatory effects in models of acute inflammation and during activation of innate immune responses. In contrast, Leptin stimulates T lymphocyte responses, thus having rather a proinflammatory role in experimental models of autoimmune diseases.
In addition to the central role of lipid storage, adipose tissue has major endocrine functions and releases a variety of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors, including adipo-cytokines, such as Leptin, adiponectin and resistin, as well as cytokines and chemokines.
Physiological levels of Leptin can modulate the response to an inflammatory challenge by altering production of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and may also affect cytokine signaling by a variety of mechanisms, including induction of SOCS-3.
Some studies report increased levels of Leptin during infectious and inflammatory processes. Leptin expression in adipose tissue and circulating Leptin levels are increased after administration of inflammatory stimuli such as lipopolysaccha-ride (LPS) or turpentine to hamsters.
As mentioned above, Leptin exerts various direct effects on cells involved in the immune and inflammatory responses. However, the connection between Leptin, immune responses and inflammation in vivo is complex. Indeed, Leptin/Leptin receptor deficiency causes multiple neuroendocrine and metabolic modifications in ob/ob or db/db mice, including the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and hypercorticosteronemia, hyperglycemia and diabetes, which may also indirectly affect the immune system.
Interestingly, in contrast to Leptin or Leptin receptor-deficient rodents, in human patients, gradual compensations of several endocrine functions that were initially impaired due to a mutated Leptin molecule were observed, possibly due to the longevity of humans. The authors suggest that, over a time span of several decades, other factors seem to bring back to normal functions that were initially dysregulated in the absence of Leptin, such as thyroid axis activity, reproduction, and possibly immunity. These observations further emphasize the complexity of the neuroendocrine regulatory and compensatory mechanisms in Leptin-deficiency.
Several studies suggest a potential implication of Leptin in the pathogenesis of other autoimmune inflammatory conditions in humans. However, the results of these studies do not consistently show a correlation between Leptin levels and activity of immune-mediated diseases.
Taken together, results of in vitro and experimental animal studies suggest that Leptin acts mostly as a proinflammatory agent during adaptive immune responses, whereas in processes involving innate immunity, anti-inflammatory effects of Leptin are prevalent. However, it is difficult to elucidate the role, if any, of Leptin during inflammatory conditions in human patients as different clinical studies have so far yielded inconsistent results, suggesting that Leptin has a rather complex role in immune response and inflammation in humans. In particular, indirect effects of Leptin or Leptin deficiency are likely to considerably influence immune responses and inflammatory processes, and potentially opposite direct and indirect effects of Leptin might thus partly account for some controversies observed in different investigations.
Resources for this section:
- Obesity, Fat, Mass and Immune System: Role of Leptin
- The role of Leptin in innate and adaptive immune responses
- Emerge of Leptin in Infection and Immunity
- Role of Leptin in the Activation of Immune Cells
There's a lot we still don't understand about Leptin when it comes to immune system responses. In particular, how it seems to behave differently based on the surrounding circumstances.
It seems as though too much Leptin can be problematic. And too little Leptin can be problematic as well.
To oversimplify the point, it reminds me of a story - Goldilocks and the Three Bears. If you recall the story, the first experience Goldilocks had after entering the home of the three bears was to eat some of their porridge.
Goldilocks observed that the first bowl was too hot. So she moved on to the second bowl she saw which was too cold. Finally, she tried the third bowl and exclaimed, "this porridge is just right."
As it relates to Leptin, we're not looking to nuke it from our bodies, nor do we want to build up large stores of it. The goal is to have just the right amount of Leptin in your body. But how do you do that?
If you've followed my journey, you know that after years of failed diets and exercises, I finally learned about the Leptin hormone, and after endless research, I realized that supplementation may be the key to all of this.
I've finally found something that works to decrease my appetite by bringing my Leptin levels back into balance. It's called, Leptitox. I'll create a full review of it soon but suffice it to say, for now, I'm down 43 lbs. since beginning to take it. Woot! Woot!
I was skeptical when I first saw the web page. I have a background in visual design so I'm guilty of "judging a book by it's cover." Fortunately the message in the video that auto-played on the page caught my attention, allowing me to let go of all of the improvements I'd personally like to see made to the landing page (LOL) and receive the information I had desperately been searching for.
You can see the same video presentation I watched by clicking the banner below. Check it out for yourself.
What do you have to lose besides the weight?
If you're anything like me, you want to shed those unwanted pounds more than anything else. And you think that just being lighter in weight will make you healthier (and it will). But the beautiful side effect is that inflammation in your body will decrease.
As the inflammation decreases, your immune system is strengthened and is able to function properly. With everything that is happening in the world today, I'd rank a strong immune system pretty high on my list of priorities, and I'm sure you do as well.
To lighter, brighter days,
❤️ Hope Williams
