Study Shows Love Hormone Can Help Shed Excess Weight

Losing weight may not be all about what you do and do not eat, but it might also be about what you feel.

A new study has found that the main hormone that plays a huge role in feelings and social interaction can help one shed those excess pounds significantly.

In a study published on Endocrine.org, titled “Investigational Obesity Drug, Oxytocin, Weakens Brain’s Reward Signals For Food,” scientists observed a strong relationship between the hormone’s weakness and one’s metabolism and eating patterns. The research was conducted on 10 males who were either obese or overweight (but were also healthy). They were asked to visit the research lab twice to be given one dose of either a nasal spray with oxytocin or a placebo, without the participants knowing which is which.

They then were subjected to MRI testing after one hour to see if there had been changes to the flow of blood to their brains. In the end, they concluded that those who received a dose of oxytocin had a weakened desire to eat when they were shown photos of high-calorie foods. The findings are a breakthrough in weight loss studies because these simply mean that oxytocin plays a major role in directing the brain’s response to delicious food.

Oxytocin, also called the love hormone or bonding hormone, is produced in two sections of the brain: the supraoptic nucleus and the paraventricular nucleus. It is typically released in situations of close contact with another person or when one feels happy. It also comes out during breastfeeding, when a pregnant woman goes into labor, and during sex and orgasm.

A similar study conducted on rats also found that those that have been given an extra shot of oxytocin stopped eating and started losing weight, regardless of the type of diet they were in. Another research also showed that mice that have been knocked out of their oxytocin receptors had eventually become obese without actually increasing their usual food consumption.

This scientific evidence disproves the common thought that happy couples tend to gain weight the longer their relationship goes. Now that we know that the love hormone can actually help people lose weight, we can start expecting to be slimmer and leaner—with conscious dieting efforts, of course.