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Lovers of rich foods face a trifecta of “food holidays”… Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas…at the end of each year…and science isn’t close to a fix-all for weight gain. But scientists at the University of Florida say they’ve narrowed in on how the appetite- and metabolism-regulating hormone called leptin works to help the body burn calories as energy, or store them as fat. U-F researchers studying metabolism and weight gain in lab rats successfully blocked an enzyme that normally turns off leptin sensitivity in obese people and causes them to gain weight. By using a compound called vanadium, researchers increased the ability of the leptin system to burn more calories in rats than they would without the treatment. Although the levels of vanadium used in the rat study aren’t safe for humans, experts hope to one day modify this enzyme-blocking model for study in people.

Dr. Philip Scarpace / UF pharmacologist

“Leptin is a very vital hormone in the control of obesity, and when leptin does not work, you’ll become obese. And what’s worse, once you become obese, then your susceptibility to gaining even greater weight is increased.”

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U-F experts are also exploring supercharging a naturally occurring protein that tells the cells to burn more food as heat, not store it as fat. Scientists think by increasing the amount of this protein in the body, possibly through the use of gene therapy, chronically obese patients may someday be able to increase their energy expenditure…jump-starting their metabolism.

Dr. Philip Scarpace / UF pharmacologist

“Our long-term objectives are to figure out ways to increase energy expenditure, whether that’s through making leptin more responsive or through other mechanisms that simply enhance energy expenditure.”

At the University of Florida Health Science Center, I’m Mike Garrison