Skip to main content

Leptin Resistance

Meaning

Leptin Resistance is a pathological physiological state where the hypothalamus and other peripheral target tissues become functionally desensitized to the powerful appetite-suppressing and energy-regulating signals of the hormone leptin, despite high circulating concentrations. This condition critically disrupts the body’s intrinsic satiety mechanism, resulting in persistent, unchecked feelings of hunger, increased overall food intake, and a pathological reduction in basal metabolic rate, which collectively drives progressive weight gain and clinical obesity. It represents a significant and challenging endocrine dysfunction in the regulation of energy homeostasis.