injecting a substance that blocks NPY prevented mice from accumulating fat — even if they were stressed and ate a high-fat diet — and could shrink fat deposits by 40 percent to 50 percent within two weeks.

The Washington Post has helped fuel the fat switch fire, and of course the researchers are excited too.

Stress mice for just ten minutes a day—how many minutes are you stressed, by the way?– and then inject. Thus, dreams of liposuction-like weight loss in you.

Satiety solution? Neuro Peptide Y is one of a dozen or more chemical messengers, hormones and proteins that control whether you are hungry.

Whether you want to eat more…that’s something different. And requires a different satiety solution.

NPY is a potent stimulator of eating in animals, and other things too: anxiety, pain and memory, for starters. A drug that blocks NPY would, at least in animals, drop eating rate, alcohol consumption, anxiety level, pain perception and memory. Sound hallucinatory?

Are there foods that block NPY? Yes, probably: but a quick review of the literature doesn’t reveal them. If only dieting were this simple.

What is straightforward is the link between stress and obesity, especially metabolic syndrome. Manage stress, and you will manage your weight loss. Comfort food all around!