New study finds leptin plays a key role in women’s health

By inkblot
September 2, 2004

Research shows hormone can restore reproductive function, suggests role in treating infertility, eating disorders, bone loss.

A new study has found that leptin plays a critical role in women’s reproductive and neuroendocrine health and suggests a future for the hormone in treating a number of conditions including exercise-induced bone loss, eating disorders and some cases of infertility. Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the findings are described in the September 2 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

“There are three populations of women for whom this study has particular relevance,” explains senior author Christos Mantzoros, MD, Director of the Human Nutrition Research Unit and Clinical Research Overseer of the Department of Endocrinology at BIDMC and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

“The largest group,” he explains, “is made up of extremely thin women who are dealing with problems of infertility; the second group consists of competitive athletes and dancers whose thin frames put them at risk for developing osteoporosis and suffering bone fractures; and the smallest – but most extreme – group is women who are battling eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa.” The common thread among all of these women, he adds, is that their conditions are characterized by extremely low levels of body fat.