Irisin, a hormone that mimics the effects of exercise and diet

A recently identified hormone called irisin mimics the effects of exercise and could one day help people lose weight and fight obesity-related diseases without surgery.

What is Irisin?

The big discovery was published in Nature in a study carried out by a group of scientists led by Bruce Spiegelman from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

“During the study, they found that physical exercise triggers the production of a chemical in muscles called PGC1-alpha. The presence of this chemical causes the production of the protein Fndc5, which the researchers named irisin, that leaves muscle cells and carries its message to other cells in the body.”

It’s naturally produced by our body and has the ability to normalize sugar metabolism and help people lose weight.

During the study led by Bruce Spiegelman, they found that the irisin hormone accumulated in the blood of mice after three weeks of running on a wheel and in the blood of people after 10 weeks of endurance exercise.

In the current study, researchers from Dana-Farber injected small amounts of irisin into the muscles of sedentary adult mice that were obese and pre-diabetic.

Within 10 days of treatment, the mice showed better blood sugar and insulin control (which can prevent the onset of full diabetes) their fat cells consumed more oxygen and burned more calories, so they lost a small amount of weight.

Human Trials with Irisin

Researchers have already started clinical trials of irisin in humans.

Among the conclusions from the first studies are:

“Modifying circulating irisin levels may help manage a variety of endocrine and metabolic disorders.”

However, there’s still a lot to investigate to reveal the different benefits irisin can bring.

Meanwhile, to lose weight, we have no other choice but to improve our diet and add physical activity to our lifestyle.

References and Studies:

• Ilse Yessabel Martinez Munoz, Eneida del Socorro Camarillo Romero and Jose de Jesus Garduno Garcia. Irisin a Novel Metabolic Biomarker: Present Knowledge and Future Directions. Int J Endocrinol. 2018; 2018: 7816806. Published online 2018 Oct 9. doi: 10.1155/2018/7816806.
• Biniaminov N, Bandt S, Roth A, Haertel S, Neumann R, Bub A. Irisin, physical activity and fitness status in healthy humans: No association under resting conditions in a cross-sectional study. PLoS One. 2018 Jan 30;13(1):e0189254. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189254. eCollection 2018.

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