Question: what do hormones have to do with your health

Richard Sulston answered on 10 Mar 2016:

Hormones are defined as any chemical messenger molecules which are released into the blood to send messages to other parts of the body.

People used to think that fat was just used as a way of storing extra food but research in the last 20 years has shown that fat is very important in releasing hormones into the blood. These include a hormone called “leptin”, this is released into the blood when we eat and tells the brain to make us feel full and stop eating. People with mutations in leptin that stop it working never feel full and are always hungry and wanting to eat more.

The hormone I study is called “adiponectin” and is also made in fat tissue and release into the blood. Adiponectin increases in the blood when people are a healthy weight and goes down in obese people. I am researching how adiponectin helps to make people healthier by making them less diabetic and less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease.