A new study has revealed that love hormone oxytoxin can help you maintain weight by reducing caloric intake. “We studied the effect of a single dose of oxytocin on food intake and metabolism on healthy men. And basically what we found is that after receiving oxytocin men ate less at a breakfast meal, they burned more fat, and they handled their blood sugar better”, said lead researcher Elizabeth Lawson, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

For the study, the researchers recruited 25 males and 13 of them were healthy and had normal weight. The remaining 12 were healthy but obese. The researchers asked all the participants to choose either a synthetic oxytocin nasal spray or a placebo. After this, the researchers measured food consumption of the participants. They found that the participants who had oxytocin supplement ate 122 fewer calories on an average. They also ate nine fewer grams of fat.

The researchers said the findings of the study can provide big help in treating obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Lawson, however, said they couldn’t figure out how the appetite is affected by oxytocin. Findings of the study were discussed during at Endocrine Society’s annual meeting.

Have you ever thought why oxytocin is called as the love hormone? Here’s the answer, secretion of oxytocin by pituitary gland is actually attributable to the act of cuddling, kissing or having sex. The love hormone is also produced in significant quantity by women when they give birth and breastfeed.

The study has showed that it helps men reduce weight by reducing the calories they consume. The researchers are now looking forward to see similar results in women.

Other studies are also looking into the effectiveness of oxytocin in preventing drunkenness or hangover as it is believed to not let the alcohol badly affect the brain.