Ghrelin increases food intake in obese as well as lean subjects

What Was Tested

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

To investigate whether effects on food intake are seen in obese subjects receiving exogenous administration of ghrelin.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 12 subjects taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, both men and women.

In all, 12 healthy lean subjects (mean body mass index (BMI) 20.5+/-0.17 kg/m(2)) and 12 healthy overweight and obese subjects (mean BMI 31.9+/-1.02 kg/m(2)).

How the Study Was Run

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

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Ghrelin and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the subjects and researchers unaware of who received Ghrelin.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Ghrelin could be set against what happens without it.

Food intake, appetite and palatability of food, ghrelin and other obesity-related hormones, growth hormone.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Appetite, Appetite Stimulants, Body Mass Index, Eating, Energy Intake, Ghrelin and Human Growth Hormone.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Ghrelin 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.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 3 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2005 (International journal of obesity (2005)), a journal based in England.

More context: the Ghrelin compound page, all human trials.