Have We Discovered The Obesity Hormone? And Will Blocking It Keep Us Slim?

We're always looking for ways to cheat the system, when it comes to obesity and weightloss.

For those of us who aren't so sold on the traditional - and let's be honest, much safer and more straightforward - technique of using diet and exercise as a method of weight management, we're often looking around for an easy way out.

Well, if easy ways out are your cup of tea, this new research could be all your prayers answered.

By blocking a particular enzyme, which in turn blocks a particular hormone we can trick the human body into metabolising everything that it digests, with much more efficiency.

So basically, you will literally be able to have your cake and eat it.

The Break Down

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter or hormone. It's the one that helps you to feel elated.

There is something called "peripheral serotonin" though, which can also be present in the body.

Scientists at McMaster University have discovered that the presence of this peripheral serotonin may be directly related to the efficiency with which your body metabolises the food you put in it.

The serotonin regulates how our bodies burn calories.

Watching a control group of mice, as scientists often do, they observed that lighter mice had less of this brand of serotonin than the heavier mice.

Showing that this serotonin may hinder the body's ability to properly process food intake.

Taking the lighter group of mice aside, the ones which had developed an enzyme mutation inhibiting serotonin production, they then fed them a diet of high fat, to immitate the consumption of the average American.

They found that these mice still managed to remain light.

The Next Step

Gregory Steinberg, one of the scientists involved in the study, has said: “What we discovered is that if we remove this enzyme either genetically or if we inhibit its activity using a chemical, a drug, the mice have low levels of serotonin and they didn't develop diabetes, obesity, or fatty liver disease,” Steinberg said.

The implication is that this process may be replicable among human beings.

And we'll be able to eat all the fatty fry up breakfasts we please!

What's The Problem?

If we think about this seriously for a minute, it becomes incredibly difficult to imagine any sensible doctor or nutritionist sanctioning the use of chemical inhibitors in order to allow people to stay slim while still eating unhealthy foods.

While this research may be used in part or even in full, in order to help treat and prevent cases of heart disease and obesity, we highly doubt it will be a "miracle drug" available to every Tom, Dick and Harry.

Also, as this is such new research, we have no grasp of the longer term implications for the human body.

Sorry to say it folks, but a healthy nutritional intake and regular exercise is still our doctrine of preference.

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What do you think of this latest piece of research? Let us know in the comments!