Hormone asprosin linked to long-term weight changes after menopause

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health have identified how the hormone asprosin influences long-term weight change among postmenopausal women in the United States. The findings suggest that the fasting-induced hormone may play a significant role in shaping body composition and long-term weight stability, offering a promising target for tailored obesity prevention strategies.

Weight gain after menopause is a major contributor to increased cardiometabolic risk, including type 2 diabetes, yet the biological drivers of long-term weight trajectories remain poorly understood. Asprosin, which is secreted primarily by adipose tissue, regulates energy balance by stimulating the liver to release glucose and signaling the brain to promote appetite. Although previous research linked asprosin to metabolic disorders, its prospective predictive role in long-term weight change had not been established in humans.

Published in The Journal of Nutrition, the research team – led by Simin Liu, chair and distinguished professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Wen Public Health – analyzed data from more than 4,000 postmenopausal women participating in the landmark Women's Health Initiative, a long-running national study of women ages 50 to 79 enrolled at 40 clinical centers across the country.

Investigators measured baseline asprosin levels in blood samples collected between Sept. 1, 1993, and Dec. 31, 1998, and tracked changes in body weight, fat accumulation and lean body mass over three years. A subset of participants underwent advanced body composition assessment using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

Among women without obesity (body mass index below 30 kg/m²) or diabetes at the baseline, those with the highest asprosin levels gained significantly less weight over three years than those with the lowest levels. They were 43 percent less likely to experience major weight gain and 83 percent more likely to achieve major weight loss. However, researchers noted that some weight loss was attributable to reductions in lean body mass.

The findings suggest that asprosin may help maintain weight stability when metabolic health is intact, though its influence appears to diminish as insulin resistance and early diabetes disrupt hormonal signaling pathways.

Our findings show that asprosin may help us track and potentially treat weight changes in postmenopausal women. Understanding the hormonal factors that influence weight after menopause may help us develop more precise strategies for lifestyle management or pharmacologic interventions that prevent obesity and related metabolic disorders while preserving healthy muscle mass."

Simin Liu, director of UC Irvine's Center for Global Cardiometabolic Health & Nutrition

Further research is needed to evaluate asprosin's role in the development of type 2 diabetes and to better understand the biological mechanisms underlying these associations. Additional studies will determine whether modifying asprosin levels could lead to effective clinical interventions.

Additional authors include Bo Yang and Jie Li of Wen Public Health at UC Irvine; Elizabeth S. Silva and Atul R. Chopra of the Harrington Discovery Institute in Cleveland, Ohio; Stella Ng of the Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University; Alexander P. Reiner of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and the University of Washington; JoAnn E. Manson of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; and Lawrence S. Phillips of the Division of Endocrinology at Emory University. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute supported the research.