Investigators at Stanford University and Baylor College of Medicine have identified an exercise-induced appetite suppressant that led to weight loss when administered to obese mice. The molecule, Lac-Phe, has led to predictable excitement around the possibility of appetite-suppressing exercise in a pill.

Microbiota are recognized as key regulators of the gut-brain axis, but whether brain neurons can directly sense bacterial components, and conversely, if bacteria are involved in modulating physiological processes via the brain, has not been demonstrated. Researchers at the Institute Pasteur in Paris have now shown that muropeptides directly inhibit the activity of neurons in the hypothalamus to regulate appetite, nesting behavior and body temperature in mice.