Re: Can the effects of caffine on our metabolism be related to obesity?

Dear Arne,

You have heard correctly that caffeine can be used to increase metabolic rate and reduce obesity. A scientific article concerning this was published by JJ Ramsey in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, volume 68, p. 42-51, 1998. You can look at a summary of this article online by going to a site called Pub Med at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Generally, however, caffeine cannot be considered a suitable drug for most conditions, since it has serious effects upon blood pressure and heart rate. It is also curious that the exact causes of most human obesity are uncertain. Recently, rare inherited defects in a function of a part of the brain that governs eating, the hypothalamus, hvae been shown to be a rare cause of obesity in a few identified individuals (see the following paper: . Clement, K., C. Vaisse, N. Lahlou, S. Cabrol, V. Pelloux, D. Cassuto, M. Gourmelen, C. Dina, J. Chambaz, J.-M. Lacorte, A. Basdevant, P. Bougneres, Y. Lebouc, P. Froguel, and B. Guy-Grand. A mutation in the human leptin receptor gene causes obesity and pituitary dysfunction. Nature 392:398-401, 1998.).
However, this specific gene defect is very rare; some other type of disturbance in hypothalamic function may underlie more common forms of obesity. This whole area of research is very active at present.