Researchers at Yale University have found a new substance that is released by the stomach following the consumption of fatty food. Suppressing appetite and causing weight-loss in rats and mice, this substance might lead to novel obesity treatments for humans in future.

The team, headed by Professor Gerald I. Shulman, investigated substances known as N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines, or NAPEs, which are synthesized and secreted into the blood by the small intestine after fatty foods are eaten. When rats and mice were regularly injected with NAPEs, they experienced suppressed appetites and reduced their food intake.

It is believed NAPEs reduce the activity of hunger neurons in the brain and stimulate satiety neurons. I know, this is a rather obtuse description, but what it means is that NAPEs act on the brain itself to suppress appetite as opposed to some other physiological effect, like causing the stomach to contract or whatnot.

While NAPEs have not yet been tested in humans, that’s the very next thing on the agenda for the researchers at Yale, and who knows – a NAPE-based anti-fat pill could be prescribed to you in the not too distant future.

The findings will be published in the 26 November 2008 issue of Cell and were brought to my attention through a Eurekalert! press release.