A recent animal study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation demonstrated the role iron plays in appetite due to its potential to suppress leptin, a hormone that regulates food intake (Aug. 24, 2015). Knowing that iron supplementation increases appetite, researchers fed male mice high- (2,000 mg/kg) and low-normal (35 mg/kg) iron diets for two months, followed by measuring the levels of iron in fat tissue. The researchers observed a 115-percent increase of iron in the mice fed a high-iron diet as compared to the mice fed the low-normal diet. In addition, leptin levels in blood were 42-percent lower in mice on the high-iron diet compared to those on the low-normal diet.
The researchers concluded “these findings indicate that levels of dietary iron play an important role in regulation of appetite and metabolism through cAMP-responsive element binding protein activation (CREB)-dependent modulation of leptin expression."
