Alimentómica cannot be left out of the challenges posed by the global obesity epidemic, and its first line of research, the leptin project, aims to contribute to a new strategy for obesity prevention.

In 1994 it was discovered leptin, a protein hormone secreted by adipose tissue that modulates energy intake and expenditure. Today we know that alterations in the production of leptin or their receptors in the central nervous system cause obesity in humans.

The discovery of leptin meant an enormous advance in the knowledge of the molecular biology of the body weight and obesity control system. However, the use of leptin to try to cure obesity has not fulfilled the initial expectations, since in most obese humans the problem is not a lack of leptin, but a resistance to the effects of this hormone.

However, at the end of 2005, the Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Biotechnology (Nutrigenomics) research group, currently Nutrigenomics, Biomarkers and Risk Assessment (NuBE), of the University of the Balearic Islands  led by the Prof. Catalina Picó, obtained evidence that obesity can be prevented by ingesting moderate amounts of leptin during lactation. In fact, leptin is naturally present in breast milk but not in current commercial infant formulas. This discovery would explain, in part, why breastfeeding (which provides leptin) prevents the development of obesity and other disorders compared to formula feeding (which does not provide leptin). The group has also obtained evidence that, in humans, the weight at two years correlates negatively with the amount of leptin provided by breast milk, so that the higher the concentration of leptin in breast milk, the lower the mass index body at two years. In addition, animal studies of the group show that the intake of moderate amounts of leptin during lactation is capable of reversing most of the maladjustment caused by adverse nutritional conditions during pregnancy; evidencing, even more, the essential role of a sufficient intake of leptin during the lactation period and the importance of breastfeeding in the prevention of developing obesity.