Combining Exercise With Hormone Could Prevent Weight Gain

Stupid research. One good point, though.

"Heralded as a promising obesity treatment, the hormone leptin lost its fat-fighting luster when scientists discovered overweight patients were resistant to its effects. But pairing leptin with just a minor amount of exercise seems to revive the hormone's ability to fight fat again, University of Florida researchers recently discovered.

The combination of leptin and a modest dose of wheel running prevented obese rats on a belt-busting, high-fat diet from gaining weight, even though neither tactic worked alone, say UF researchers, writing in the journal Diabetes.

'They don't run enough to use sufficient energy to prevent weight gain,' said Philip Scarpace, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology and therapeutics in the UF College of Medicine and the senior author of the study. 'What the act of running appears to do is allow the leptin to work again. It's a demonstration that this simple act can reverse leptin resistance.'"

In this way, fat people are like the rats - they "don't run enough to use sufficient energy to prevent weight gain."

Almost no one does since exercise is a terribly inefficient way to shed weight.