Food as a Hormone

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 339; no. 6122; pp. 918 - 919
• Main Authors: Ryan, Karen K., Seeley, Randy J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington American Association for the Advancement of Science 22-02-2013; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Biology; Carbohydrates; Communities; Diet; Diets; Epidemiology; Fats; Fatty acids; Food; Foods; Hormone metabolism; Hormones; Lipid metabolism; Metabolic diseases; Nutrition research; Obesity; PERSPECTIVES; Receptors; Weight gain
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1234062

Nutrient substrates derived from food can activate intracellular signaling cascades to regulate metabolic health.
Diet has an enormous impact on many aspects of our health, yet scientific consensus about how what we eat affects our biology remains elusive. This is especially true with respect to the ongoing debate about obesity. While many in the scientific community focus on how high-fat diets can lead to increased body weight (
1
), others assert that we should blame processed carbohydrates (
2
). Is it possible that this focus on macronutrients (i.e., fats, proteins, and sugars) is misplaced?