ghrelin tagged posts

NPGL apparently aims to maintain body mass at a constant, come feast or famine.

Study explains why food looks even better when dieting. Up until now, scientists knew that leptin – a hormone released by fatty tissue, reduces appetite, while ghrelin – a hormone released by stomach tissue makes us want to eat more. These hormones, in turn, activate a host of neurons in the brain’s hypothalamus – the body’s energy control center. The discovery of NPGL by Professor Kazuyoshi Ukena of Hiroshima University shows that hunger and energy consumption mechanisms are even more complex than we realized – and that NPGL plays a central role in what were thought to be well-understood processes.

Professor Ukena first discovered NPGL in chickens after noticing that growing birds grew larger irrespective of d...