Tricking the Brain with Leptin to Limit Post Liposuction and Post Bariatric Surgery Weight Regain?

Abstract

Obesity represents a medical challenge for modern therapists. The main difficulty is that once obesity is established, it is hard to reverse. It is believed that once an increased body weight/adiposity content is reached it becomes the “reference” that energy mechanisms adjust towards keeping. Thus, following a weight loss, such as following liposuction/bariatric surgery, the metabolic balance would target this “reference” that represents the previously reached body weight/adiposity content. On the other hand, medical procedures of liposuction and bariatric surgery reduce the level of the adipocytes-produced hormone leptin. This leptin level reduction leads to an increase in food intake and a decrease in energy expenditure. Therefore, the reduced leptin would be among the signals received by the brain to trigger weight regain via processes aiming to re-establish the pre-liposuction/pre-bariatric surgery body weight or adiposity content. We suggest administering leptin so that the brain does not detect the post- liposuction/post-bariatric surgery weight loss; thus, limiting the signals toward weight regain, leading to a better weight control.