Mike Mutzel, MS, author of Belly Fat Effect, was interviewed on the Anxiety Summit by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.
The leptin obesity anxiety connection
- Leptin as an appetite-regulation hormone
- How leptin effects on immunity, inflammation and cortisol
- Leptin and the microbiome, LPS and leaky gut
- How leptin plays a role in anxiety, stress, PTSD and depression
- How to exercise, meditate and do yoga to decrease leptin levels
Here are some snippets from our interview:
So low leptin levels trigger the hypothalamus in the brain to signal the rest of the body to initiate hunger and to cause people to eat and so forth. And then as we eat calories throughout the day our leptin levels progressively rise. And once they’re rising, they peak around midnight or two in the morning, it just depends on someone’s biological rhythms. Everyone is different.
And so when they peak that signals to the rest of the body that there’s enough fuel on board and we can start burning fuel. So it’s actually a good process, right, because it’s going to stimulate all these mitochondrial pathways to be turning on basically cellular breakdown of the nutrients that we’ve ingested throughout the day and then the cycle repeats.
The problem though is that people get leptin resistant and this really actually refers to the hypothalamus. So that’s really the main region of the body where the receptors become resistant. And so the problem then because people – and let me just pause and share with you kind of how people get leptin resistant. It’s just leptin is released primarily from adipocytes, from fat tissue, okay. And so the more fat you have, the more body fat you have whether you’re a man or a woman, young or old, the more leptin you’re going to be releasing.
And then we cover leptin 2.0 and the stress, anxiety, PTSD connection:
Now let’s take a deep dive into what I like to call leptin 2.0. The cool part about leptin that not many people understand is that leptin affects the immune system. It also affects the HPA axis and the hormonal system, cortisol and even sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen in a really profound way.
When you become more overweight, more sedentary, you eat outside of your circadian rhythm, leptin levels get imbalanced and you become leptin resistant. Leptin doesn’t have that brake mechanism to suppress cortisol release. That’s why we see elevated levels of leptin in PTSD, in stress responses, in overweight people and so forth. And so it affects our body’s ability to adjust to our environment which is really what we’re trying to do.
We all have stress. We’re just trying to balance that better. The problem though is leptin, if we have excess levels of leptin that’s going to affect our body’s ability to cope with stressors and make life seem more challenging than it needs to be.
Here is the 2015 study I mentioned: The role of maternal obesity in the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders
Animals exposed to maternal obesity and a high fat diet consumption display hyperactivity, impairments in social behavior, increased anxiety-like and depressive-like behaviors, substance addiction, food addiction, and diminished cognition. During development, these offspring are exposed to elevated levels of nutrients (fatty acids, glucose), hormones (leptin, insulin), and inflammatory factors (C-reactive protein, interleukin, and tumor necrosis factor). Such factors appear to permanently change neuroendocrine regulation and brain development in offspring. In addition, inflammation of the offspring brain during gestation impairs the development of neural pathways critical in the regulation of behavior, such as serotoninergic, dopaminergic, and melanocortinergic systems.
Here are some recent studies on leptin, obesity, serotonin and the HPA axis:
- Gastric ghrelin, GOAT, leptin, and leptinR expression as well as peripheral serotonin are dysregulated in humans with obesity
- Neuroendorine and Epigentic Mechanisms Subserving Autonomic Imbalance and HPA Dysfunction in the Metabolic Syndrome
Mike is author of Belly Fat Effect: The Real Secret About How Your Diet, Intestinal Health, and Gut Bacteria Help You Burn Fat
If you enjoy geeky science and plenty of facts you will love this book!
We talked about the excellent Autism Intensive which Mike hosted earlier this year. You can register to watch 5 videos from the event.
And here are some snippets from The Autism Intensive and a snippet of Dr. Usman’s interview: Zinc/copper balance in autism/pyroluria
Here is the gift from Mike: The Leptin Blueprint
If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here: www.theAnxietySummit.com
Missed this interview or can’t listen live? Or want this and the other great interviews for your learning library? Purchase the MP3s or MP3s + transcripts and listen when it suits you.
You can find your purchasing options here.: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, Anxiety Summit Season 3, and Anxiety Summit Season 4.
great interview. deepak Chopra is holding a 10 day free online meditation summit june 14-23, your listeners, 30 experts, your listeners might be interested.
Thanks Pip
Thanks for great interview! I wonder if you know if hearth math is possible to buy in stores? Not only to order online? My husband is in the states now and I would very much have him to bring one home for me 🙂
Ella
Ella
I don’t honestly know and don’t see anything on the site but I know they have sellers all over the world – not sure where you are? http://store.heartmath.com/resellers
Thank you! I will find a way to get it 🙂
HI there Ella,
If he sets up an Amazon account, I’m sure he can get it pretty quickly.
Doubt you can find it at stores, but might want to look up a Functional Medicine practitioner in the area and see if they have one as well. (Some clinics sell them in their stores.)
Thanks,
Mike
Thank you for a great tips! 🙂
What is the alternative device he mentioned (at about 52 minutes in, I think?) to heart-math? I couldn’t hear what he said.
Hi there Thia,
It was the Insight Meditation timer (free) and the Muse Meditation Headband. (It’s a mobile quantitative EEG device.)
You can find it on Amazon http://amzn.to/1Un6WnT or google their website.
Both are great!
Mike
Mike mentions something about people who are on a Paleo diet and their consumption of beef. He says he would address it later, but I guess time ran out.
Karen
Good catch – that was a test to see who was listening – only kidding! 🙂 I had made note when I was reviewing the transcript to ask him and forgot so will ping him to come and reply
Thanks Trudy. It was such an EXCELLENT interview. You have such a fantastic interview style. Your manner and poise and your ability to ask such wonderful questions on our behalf is truly amazing.
Just in case – it was at the 31 min mark in regard to endotoxins.
Thanks Karen!
Mike this is for you..a snippet from the interview:
“Well gram negative bacteria have this little tail type thing called an endotoxin also known as lipopolysaccharide. Well it turns out that this is a very pro inflammatory substance. Our body has receptors because it’s been a real problem, you know, endotoxin is in dust. Endotoxin is in beef believe it or not. For some of you eating a paleo diet we’ll talk about some things you should be eating to mitigate some of these effects of beef. And also endotoxin tends to be increased or absorbed more readily when we have damage to our gut barrier.”
I had meant to swing back and ask how to mitigate some of the effects of endotoxins in beef. Please let us know here
I agree, Karen!
Trudy is amazing. Thanks for tuning in,
Mike
I would love to know about the beef too. I was found to have klebsiella gram negative gut bacteria which does produce LPS, so anything to reduce endotoxinw ould be good to know. I did hear from Dr Tom O’Bryan once about a study (correct me if I’m wrong) that certain fats, even good ones, can transport LPS into blood stream/through gut barrier but coconut oil does not). So perhaps eating more coconut oil can help. Would love to know more from Mark.
Very interesting interview by the way, I almost skipped it as I’m so thin, but glad I didn’t. Great reminder about value of sleep and exercise. I certainly notice that if I stay up late I start craving starchy and sweet foods.
Hi Claire,
This is very true–one of the ways through which bacterial endotoxin/LPS get into the body is through intestinal chylomicrons (fatty-like spheres created after we eat).
That’s why it’s important to eat fats from real food (and also lots of phytonutrients/fiber if you’re eating a high fat diet).
Hope this helps!
Mike
Claire
Glad you enjoyed it and do listen to all of them – there is something to be learned in each one
I assume you saw Mike’s comment
Mike, I am clicking above to get your free training video. I am getting your message to: “Please click the confirmation link in your email inbox now!” I AM NEVER RECEIVING THE CONFIRMATION LINK IN MY EMAIL. NOT ANYWHERE, NOT IN SPAM. NOT ANYWHERE.
Also, I was unable, I know not why, to download the transcript of your talk with Trudy. I would like to have both of the above, and would you please let me know how to get them
Thank you very much,
Donna Rietbergen
Age 69
Health issues too numerous to mention, but certainly a problem with anxiety.
NYC
Donna
It works on our end and no-one else has had an issue – please email us at support@everywomanover29.com so we can help
If you purchased the mp3s and transcripts please mention that in the email to support and we’ll make sure you get the link to access both
I hope you enjoyed his excellent wonderful interview!
Hi Donna,
We discussed this before. You entered your email without the “i” in @gmail.com
This is why InfusionSoft couldn’t deliver the email.
Anytime you fill out a form and don’t get an email, it’s best to re-fill out a form and double check that your email was imputed properly.
Thanks!
Mike
Thanks, Mike.
Trudy my gp here in Perth Australia would like to email you can you pls email me which address she should use.
Pip
Wonderful! I hope she’s been tuning in to the summit too! She’s welcome to comment or post a question here on the blog or reach me at support@everywomanover29.com