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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science.  I am Steve Mirsky.Got a minute?

Talk about your vicious cycles.  A new study finds that belly¹ fat could be making you hungrier.  Which would lead to more belly fat.  The research was performed at the University of Western Ontario.  The culprit is a hormone² called Neuropeptide Y, or NPY.  It was thought that only the brain produced this hormone, but no, your belly fat can make it too.  So NPY produced in the brain initially³ makes you eat more and gain weight around your middle, and then that fat makes more NPY, which makes you eat more. Now, fat cells can’t reproduce themselves.  But the release of NPY can stimulate⁴ the reproduction of cells that are precursors⁵ to fat cells.  So the result is the same—more and more fat cells.  The researchers next want to come up with a way to easily detect the presence of the hormone—and to turn it off.  The hope is to identify and treat those people at greatest risk for becoming abdominally obese⁶.  Because it would be easier to prevent obesity⁷ than to treat the many diseases that obesity can lead to.

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60 Second Science, I am Steve Mirsky.