A natural compound that could blunt people鈥檚 appetite for fatty food
will be tested on humans next year. If it works, it could open up a new
way of treating obesity.
Unlike most existing drugs designed to suppress appetite, which operate
on receptors in the brain, enterostatin is formed in the gut and appears
to regulate the craving for fat. Researchers at Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge and at the University of Lund in Sweden have found that rats
with the highest natural levels of enterostatin eat the least fat.
Nick Finer, a specialist in obesity at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital,
says: 鈥楾here鈥檚 a great attraction in drugs that could work within the gut
and strengthen satiety signals from there. Most existing drugs work on the
appetite through the central nervous system, reducing hunger and increasing
蝉补迟颈别迟测.鈥�
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If enterostatin could 鈥榢nock the edge off one鈥檚 appetite, the potential
could be enormous鈥�, says Stephen Bloom, professor of endocrinology at Hammersmith
Hospital in London.
Charlotte Erlanson-Albertsson at the University of Lund discovered enterostatin
in 1988 and hopes to begin trials in people soon. 鈥業t might help some obese
people get slimmer,鈥� she says. Obese rats that receive regular doses of
enterostatin lose weight, she says.
David York, who is leading a project on enterostatin at the Pennington
Biomedical Center in Baton Rouge, also hopes to begin trials on people next
year. Already, he says, collaborators at the University of Washington in
Seattle have had encouraging results with overweight baboons.
Enterostatin is formed from procolipase, a pancreatic enzyme that plays
a crucial role in the breakdown of fat. When procolipase leaves the pancreas
and enters the intestine, it splits into colipase 鈥� which helps to dissolve
fat 鈥� and enterostatin, a small peptide made up of five amino acids.
Erlanson-Albertsson has shown that enterostatin is also produced in
the stomach and both she and York suspect that it might form in the brain
as well. 鈥榃e鈥檝e found receptors for enterostatin in the stomach and the
brain,鈥� she says.
Commenting on the findings, Bloom and Finer both stressed the complexity
of eating patterns. They cautioned that psychology often dictates people鈥檚
eating habits, and could override hormonal signals produced in the gut or
elsewhere.
鈥楶eople overeat because they鈥檙e bored, because they鈥檙e depressed or
because of social reasons,鈥� explained Bloom. 鈥業t鈥檚 unlikely that (enterostatin)
is the overriding key component of appetite regulation, but it could be
an important part of the jigsaw,鈥� he said.
