Appetite hormones sabotage weight loss

Australian obesity expert Professor Joe Proietto, from the University of Melbourne and Austin Health, has demonstrated the role of appetite-regulating hormones in thwarting attempts to maintain initial weight loss in people with high BMI who go on a diet.

In the NHMRC-funded study, 50 overweight or obese adults (BMI 27-40 kg/m²) undertook a weight loss program involving replacement of meals with a very low energy commercial dietary formulation plus low-starch vegetables over eight weeks.

Among the 35 individuals who stayed on the program and were followed up a year later, researchers showed that after initial