Why the 'Cuddle Hormone' Can Stop You from Eating Yourself Sick

Oxytocin is a pretty awesome hormone. It's secreted during orgasms, cuddling, the life-giving act of breastfeeding, and can literally make you feel "Drunk in Love."

The "love hormone" also has the unique property of helping those who love food too much manage overeating and weight loss, though the reason for that isn't entirely clear. But a new study published by the Endocrine Society has shed some light on the mechanism through which oxytocin can mitigate food intake.

In a pilot study looking at ten overweight and obese men, researchers exposed subjects to a series of computer-based tests that measured their ability to suppress impulsive behavior by pressing on a button at an appropriate time. The ten men underwent the same test before and after self-administering a single dose of synthetic oxytocin spray per nostril.

What researchers found was that participants who had taken a dose of oxytocin were less likely to press the button when they were not supposed to. Even though there was no food involved in this study, these results offered a fascinating glimpse into oxytocin's impact on their self-control.

While the link between oxytocin and eating fewer calories had already been established by scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, researchers still weren't exactly sure why that was the case. Based on these most recent results, however, the causal link appears to lie in self-control. For co-author Franziska Plessow, the practical implications of these findings were significant.

"Knowing the mechanisms of action of intranasal oxytocin is important to investigating oxytocin as a novel treatment strategy for obesity," Plessow said in a press release. "This information may allow us to move forward to large clinical trials, identify who can benefit from the drug, and help optimize the treatment."

But eating is a complex behaviour, and not all overeating necessarily relates to impulse control. In addition, this study looked at only ten men; its authors acknowledge that further trials would have to be carried out with a larger, broader sample.

Still, they remain optimistic, especially when it comes to the ramifications for patients who risk dangerous obesity surgery to cut down on their weight and food cravings. "Our preliminary results in men are promising," Plessow added. "Oxytocin nasal spray showed no strong side effects and is not as invasive as obesity surgery."

Of course, you can just bypass the whole nasal-spray thing and just get oxytocin in its purest form by having sex.