Obestatin is a hormone that is produced in specialized epithelial cells of the stomach and small intestine of several animals including humans.

[2] Obestatin was originally identified as an anorectic peptide, but its effect on food intake remains controversial.

[3] The purpose of producing two hormones with opposing effects is not clear: removing the ghrelin gene from mice did not significantly reduce food intake.

No secretory convertase is capable of cleaving the recombinant proghrelin precursor by cleavage at the single basic residue required for generation of the obestatin sequence.

Obestatin has opposite action to ghrelin on food intake and plays a role in energy balance.