PubMed · 2026-04-11
A common plant hormone used in gardening and agriculture—6-benzylaminopurine (BAP)—was found to cause significant weight loss in obese mice by suppressing appetite, breaking down fat, and improving metabolism, suggesting it could become a new obesity treatment for humans.
Orally administered BAP induced significant weight loss in both male and female diet-induced obese mice through sex-specific mechanisms including appetite suppression and fat tissue remodeling.
BAP improved multiple metabolic markers including glucose tolerance, fasting blood glucose, and liver health, while promoting the conversion of energy-storing white fat into calorie-burning brown fat.
RNA sequencing revealed BAP inhibits the EGFR/ErbB2 and MEK/ERK/EGR1 signaling pathways, and MEK/ERK inhibition was shown to drive appetite-suppressing gene changes and fat-burning protein (UCP1) induction across multiple cell types.