Author: Peter J. Havel, University of California, Davis, e-mail [email protected]

Citation: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1998;67:355-6.

This editorial emphasizes that elevation in plasma leptin in obese people is consistent with resistance to this hormone's effect on regulating eating behavior, as well as new evidence that leptin concentrations may be linked to changes in blood glucose level. Thus, leptin regulation may provide a link between two frequently coexistent diseases, obesity and adult onset diabetes.

This editorial corresponds to an article by Luke et al which is published in the same issue of The Journal. The title of the paper is "Leptin and body composition of Nigerians, Jamaicans, and US Blacks".