Rowan

I thought you might be interested in this article that is based on some Australian research. Again, it probably needs to be regarded with a little suspicion in that the N figure is so small.

But it does seem to confirm the beliefs of quite a few about the effect of hunger hormones...

https://www.news.com.au/breaking-news...-1226178269307

goldfinch

This is consistent with other research. For example, prior research has shown that diet-induced weight loss in humans decreases leptin concentration, which may help explain dieting’s high failure rate. A key quote from the article:

He said avoiding weight regain appears to be a fundamentally different problem from losing weight in the first place, and that researchers should pay more attention to it.

velocycling

"Mr Proietto served on a medical advisory board of Nestle, maker of Optifast, until last year."

They lost wt. but not through diet, but a diet drink. Of course the body thinks it is starving when only receiving 500/cal/day

goldfinch

Fair comment, but other research indicates that leptin and other hormones go out of whack for weight losers who are not on severe calorie restriction diets. There remains the drive to regain weight even if you lost your weight slowly.

Note that the hormone levels were measured over the period of a year, after the diet was over. Even after a year hormone levels did not go back to the original prediet levels. Ghrelin was up (an appetite stimulant) and leptin down (a suppressant). Most other studies which found similar results were shorter term IIRC. This one is interesting because of the longer term followup. Still not long enough though. More research is needed on this issue, which is clearly an issue.