Insights into the mechanisms of body weight control

Body weight plays an important role in health. Despite key findings associated with body weight control, many underlying physiological mechanisms still need to be discovered. In body weight control, the brain is the integrating center that receives information from the external and internal environments and ultimately enacts a response. Our brains seem to be wired to ensure survival because it appears that it is easier to gain weight than to lose it. In the present review, the current understanding of the mechanisms of body weight control by nutrients and hormones, with a focus on leptin, insulin, and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), is discussed. Gaps in the literature are also highlighted.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This review provides a brief summary of the key current mechanisms of body weight regulation.