Gender Difference in the Prediction of Weight Loss by Leptin among Overweight Adults

Abstract

Background/Aim: Leptin plays an important role in energy metabolism. The primary objective of the study was to investigate whether baseline leptin levels predict weight loss during a dietary intervention in overweight and obese individuals. Methods: A total of 324 individuals (138 men and 186 women, aged 20–40 years, BMI 27.5–32.5) were recruited in Iceland, Ireland and Spain. The intervention lasted for 8 consecutive weeks, and subjects were instructed to follow a diet, energy restricted by 30%. Anthropometric variables were assessed before and after the intervention. Leptin concentration was measured at baseline and corrected for fat mass. Linear models were used to find out which variables predicted weight loss. Results: At end point, significant weight loss was observed (5.16 ± 3.06 kg, p < 0.001). High baseline leptin concentrations were a significant negative predictor of weight loss in men (p = 0.028), with a predicted difference of 1.8 kg between the lowest and highest leptin quartile. Conclusion: Our study underlines the importance of leptin in energy metabolism. Plasma leptin concentrations at baseline are a predictor of weight loss in overweight men after an 8-week dietary intervention. The same effect was not observed in overweight women, which suggests that the role of leptin in the regulation of weight is gender specific.

Baseline leptin and leptin reduction predict improvements in metabolic variables and long-term fat loss in obese children and adolescents: a prospective study of an inpatient weight-loss program

“…However, baseline triglycerides and baseline leptin were not significantly correlated. A previous study reported a positive correlation between baseline leptin and baseline triglycerides in men, but not in women, but found no significant effect of baseline triglycerides on percentage weight loss (32). Baseline leptin and changes in leptin concentrations were significant predictors, independent of weight and fat loss, of changes in several metabolic variables.…”

“…Several intervention studies in adults that analyzed the effect of baseline leptin concentrations on weight loss have reported negative correlations (22,(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33), whereas others have found positive (33) or no (34,35) correlations. These divergent findings may be due to differences in study design (eg, intervention duration), severity of overweight, and weight loss (36), and confounders common in obese adults, such as smoking, alcohol use, medications, and comorbidities.…”

“…It is not clear why higher baseline leptin concentrations are associated with less fat loss during lifestyle interventions. It is possible that relatively high baseline leptin reflects more pronounced leptin resistance and that this increases susceptibility to weight gain and decreases the ability to lose weight during energy restriction (32). Leptin resistance is likely caused by a combination of resistance at the receptor and postreceptor levels as well as to the decreased transport of leptin through the blood-brain barrier (13,30,32).…”

“…It is possible that relatively high baseline leptin reflects more pronounced leptin resistance and that this increases susceptibility to weight gain and decreases the ability to lose weight during energy restriction (32). Leptin resistance is likely caused by a combination of resistance at the receptor and postreceptor levels as well as to the decreased transport of leptin through the blood-brain barrier (13,30,32). Due to the saturation of the leptin transport system into the brain, obese humans have a decreased ratio of cerebrospinal fluid leptin to serum leptin, despite high circulating concentrations of leptin (37,38).…”

Alterações cardiometabólicas e de sono em motoristas de caminhão

“…Both ghrelin and leptin act on the hypothalamus, controlling energy balance by increasing and decreasing food intake, respectively [44,119]. Thus, these hormones are considered essential elements in energy metabolism, but their mechanism of action remains unclear [68,89].…”