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In Health
What foods contain leptin?
Fish, pulses, and vegetables contain leptin, but here is more information: First of all, the digestive tract cannot absorb leptin, so even if you could find a fo…od rich in leptin it wouldn't help - forget about finding foods rich in leptin. The body has to create it's own leptin. Second, you don't actually want high leptin levels in your blood - what you want is for your body to respond to leptin more efficiently (ultimately resulting in LOWER leptin levels!). Leptin acts to curb appetite and to increase metabolism. So it would seem that you would want to increase leptin levels. But over time, high leptin levels in your blood eventually results in leptin insensitvity - similar to diabetes. Also, genetics makes some people less responsive to leptin than others. The real key is to make your body more sensitive to leptin - so that you will maintain a high metabolic rate and low appetite even if leptin levels drop. And as you lose weight, leptin levels drop, because fat itself causes the body to produce more leptin. So your question should be "what foods make the body more sensitive to leptin?" And the answer is that there are indeed some foods that apparently help the body become more efficient at processing leptin. How this works is not yet known - it is still being studied. But we do know that foods that seem to help include: Fish, primarily, then pulses (kidney beans, pinto beans, navy beans, lima beans, lentils), then other vegetables. Studies have shown that people with high levels of fish in their diet have low leptin levels (their bodies respond to leptin more efficiently, so the body doesn't produce as much leptin). In populations that don't eat lots of fish, leptin levels are usually higher, even when caloric intake, body fat levels, and weight are similar to those who eat lots of fish. After fish, high intake of pulses appears to be effective at decreasing leptin levels (again, increasing leptin sensitivity). After pulses, generally a diet rich in vegetables appears to aid in increasing leptin sensitvity. So there's your answer: fish, pulses, and vegetables. Nothing new, really... First of all, the digestive tract cannot absorb leptin, so even if you could find a food rich in leptin it wouldn't help - forget about finding foods rich in leptin. The body has to create it's own leptin. Second, you don't actually want high leptin levels in your blood - what you want is for your body to respond to leptin more efficiently (ultimately resulting in LOWER leptin levels!). Leptin acts to curb appetite and to increase metabolism. So it would seem that you would want to increase leptin levels. But over time, high leptin levels in your blood eventually results in leptin insensitvity - similar to diabetes. Also, genetics makes some people less responsive to leptin than others. The real key is to make your body more sensitive to leptin - so that you will maintain a high metabolic rate and low appetite even if leptin levels drop. And as you lose weight, leptin levels drop, because fat itself causes the body to produce more leptin. So your question should be "what foods make the body more sensitive to leptin?" And the answer is that there are indeed some foods that apparently help the body become more efficient at processing leptin. How this works is not yet known - it is still being studied. But we do know that foods that seem to help include: Fish, primarily, then pulses (kidney beans, pinto beans, navy beans, lima beans, lentils), then other vegetables. Studies have shown that people with high levels of fish in their diet have low leptin levels (their bodies respond to leptin more efficiently, so the body doesn't produce as much leptin). In populations that don't eat lots of fish, leptin levels are usually higher, even when caloric intake, body fat levels, and weight are similar to those who eat lots of fish. After fish, high intake of pulses appears to be effective at decreasing leptin levels (again, increasing leptin sensitivity). After pulses, generally a diet rich in vegetables appears to aid in increasing leptin sensitvity. So there's your answer: fish, pulses, and vegetables. Nothing new, really... (MORE)
