Narcolepsy and Weight Gain

Sheela Philomena, a writer for medindia.net, has recently written an article about the latest news in narcolepsy research. According to a study, there is a relationship between narcolepsy and weight gain. Narcoleptics may gain weight even though if they substantially very little. Why are these symptoms occurring?

According Cell Metabolism, researchers have determined that there is deficiency of orexin, a neuropeptide hormone that enhances hunger and wakefulness. As a result, narcoleptics lack energy and cannot burn fat as well as an average person. Specifically. they are unable to burn brown fat. For background information, white fat stores calories while brown fat is used for burning them. The burning of calories from brown fat generates heat. With adequate amounts of orexin, people are able to indulge or eat more. Simultaneously, they can lose more weight.

Studies have found that orexins in mice are important for forming brown fat. As the number of orexin decreases, the amount of brown fat and energy decreases. When the mice are injected with orexin, they ultimately lose fat.

These findings are important because weight loss therapies can be created that base their programs on increasing orexin in the body.