Science Krispies ... Spiked Pink Leptinade Anyone?

Leptin seems a very confusing hormone to pin down.  It's still relatively new, so despite there being a ton of research already, we're still in that era of lots of conflicting research and such.   As discussed previously, I think this makes leptin ripe for serving up oversized bowls of Science Krispies.  A lot of confusion also exists as regards the relationship between leptin and insulin.  Some say they work in concert, some say leptin rules insulin, and others say insulin rules leptin.  Insulin production is distinctly different in the basal and postprandial states.  How about leptin?  

Well if we believe Dr. Ron Rosedale (doing his best Joel Osteen impersonation shown at right, from over on his  Facebook page), it's leptin that rules the roost.  Rosedale posted a few advance installments of his response to the whole "safe starches" query from Jimmy Moore.  Here's one:

It appears to me that the paleo community has now been divided between a faction that backs Taubes who believes that insulin is supreme and the major cause of obesity, and a faction backed by Harris, Jaminet, Guyenet, and others who believe that insulin and glucose is less important and that leptin is more important in obesity and perhaps other diseases, and therefore eating so-called “safe starches” is OK if not even desirable. The major issue and source of confusion that I see, is that they are both half right and half wrong, but opposite halves. Taubes is right that sugars, starch, and elevated insulin are a major source of disease if not obesity that I heralded 2 decades ago, but not fully correct as to why. The Jaminet, Guyenet, Kruse, and Harris** group is right that leptin likely supersedes insulin as far as importance in obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, at least in humans. However, they (not including Kruse) are quite wrong in believing that it is therefore okay to consume “safe starches” that will largely digest into glucose. Though true that leptin, more than insulin, controls fat storage and perhaps even blood glucose levels, this does not mean that raising insulin levels via glucose is unimportant. It still plays a huge role in the control of genetic expression influencing the aging and chronic disease phenotype. 

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