Inhibition of food intake in obese subjects by peptide YY3-36.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study, published as a randomized controlled trial.

The researchers investigated whether obese subjects were also resistant to the anorectic effects of PYY.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 12 subjects were involved.

PubMed tags the participants as both men and women.

The researchers compared the effects of PYY infusion on appetite and food intake in 12 obese and 12 lean subjects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got the intervention named in the title and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the subjects nor the staff measuring them knew who was on the intervention named in the title, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some subjects received a placebo instead, giving a reference point.

In the crossover set-up each of the subjects took both the intervention named in the title and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

The plasma levels of PYY, ghrelin, leptin, and insulin were also determined.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Appetite, Eating, Ghrelin, Insulin, Leptin, Obesity and Peptide Fragments.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study in 12 subjects.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 7 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2003 (The New England journal of medicine), a journal based in United States.

More context: all human trials.