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Published in this month's issue of Cell Metabolism, the new study examines how people who are obese can become resistant to leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells.
Leptin can suppress food intake by affecting brain cells that control appetite. However, according to scientists at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, high levels of leptin, which can be found in severely overweight individuals, can lead to the body no longer responding to the hormone's weight suppressing effects.
The findings, which are primarily designed to help develop new weight loss drug therapies, could also provide clues as to why regulating body weight is often not as simple as providing consumers with 'healthier' food options.
The research was conducted in mice and involved two separate groups that were fed high-fat and low-fat diets.
Over time, the high-fat diet group developed symptoms of diabetes and obesity, as is often the case in humans, said the scientists. The low-fat group did not develop these health problems.
Obesity is currently thought to affect more than 64 percent of the US's adult population and 16 percent of children, and has been repeatedly linked with an increased risk of other health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
The condition, which has been repeatedly linked to increased risk for heart disease and diabetes, has been the bane of the food industry in recent years, with food firms often receiving much of the blame for the nation's increasing obesity rates.
