Leptin Linked to Cause Anxiety and Depression

Leptin, the hormone produced from fat cells, are found to cause symptoms of anxiety and depression according to the study from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in United States.
The hormone, which was just recently discovered in 2004, was one of the important fat-derived hormones in the body. It helps inhibit appetite, and deficiency of the hormone results to increased food intake and delayed satiety. And recently it is found that low levels of the hormone causes anxiety and depression, and vice versa. Furthermore, amount of body fat and weight does not seem to have any effect.
The researchers studied fasting blood leptin levels, amount of body fat and weight of a total of 64 women; with 15 of them having anorexia, 17 are overweight and 12 had hypothalamic amenorrhea, a condition that causes low leptin levels but have normal fat levels. The rest of the participants were healthy women with normal weight. The participants were also assessed for their stress levels, depression and anxiety symptoms.
This is the first study that links the hormone to anxiety and depression to humans, regardless of amount of fat in the body. In animals, leptin is shown to have anti-depressant and anti-anxiety properties. Other studies link leptin to fertility, increased thickness and inflammation.
Researchers further commented that studies with more participants are needed to establish whether leptin has the potential for treatment of depression and anxiety.

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