The neurotransmitter Neuropeptide Y (NPY) directly controls osteoblasts, the cells that make bone in mice, a neuroscientist from Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research, has demonstrated.

When we are starving, our brains don’t allow us to waste energy by reproducing, making fat or creating new bone. When we are eating too much, on the other hand, our brains make it easier to reproduce, store fat and create bone.