Ghrelin hormone can reduce hunger pangs and control obesity

New research has shown that obese people who undergo gastric bypass surgery may lose weight quickly because levels of a hormone controlling appetite fall away.

New research has shown that obese people who undergo gastric bypass surgery may lose weight quickly because levels of a hormone controlling appetite fall away.The hormone called ghrelin is released into the blood from the stomach and upper intestine and triggers hunger pangs.The Archives of Surgery study, by Atlanta’s Emory University, discovered that ghrelin levels dropped by nearly one-third after gastric bypass surgery.The researchers focused on a particular type of gastric bypass surgery known as the Roux-en-Y procedure, which involves dividing the stomach to create a pouch that is attached to the small intestine.The procedure reduces the size of the stomach and bypasses parts of the gastric system that absorb food and may trigger releases of the hormone.However, it is considered to be risky and is usually only offered to patients who are severely overweight and who have been unable to lose weight through other methods.”This is the first time we have found that different types of weight-loss surgeries affect ghrelin levels in humans,” the BBC quoted Dr Edward Lin, lead author of the study, as saying.”Other mechanisms can make you hungry, but ghrelin is one of the most potent hunger stimulants. If you can find a way to control the release of ghrelin in the body, you can potentially prevent a person from overeating,” added Lin.However, Dr Ian Campbell, of the UK National Obesity Forum, said that gastric bypass surgery was declining in popularity, as doctors preferred to use safer laparoscopic surgery techniques.”It does not matter how it works, as long as it does, and for somebody who is morbidly obese, and for who nothing else has worked, surgery of this kind can be a lifesaver,” added Campbell.(Source: ANI, July 2004)