Andrew Huberman· PhD
So when we smoke or when we ingest nicotine in any other way, you activate these POMC neurons, you suppress appetite, but in part you do that by actually limiting the impulse to chew.
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The headline is broadly defensible, but the qualifications matter. Effect sizes vary by population, the strongest claims rest on shorter trials, and credible voices push back on how it's typically framed.
So when we smoke or when we ingest nicotine in any other way, you activate these POMC neurons, you suppress appetite, but in part you do that by actually limiting the impulse to chew.
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It turns out that when nicotine gets into the bloodstream and then into the brain, some of that nicotine binds to nicotinic alpha four beta two containing nicotinic receptors. Again, these sub units of receptors, but basically the nicotine parks there. And as a consequence, these POMC neurons increase their electrical activity and appetite is suppressed.