Apple CEO Steve Jobs Reveals He has Hormone Imbalance, Which Caused Rapid Weight Loss

I wondered why Steve Jobs was looking so rough lately. He looked like a male version of Ann Coulter. He announced this morning that he has a hormone imbalance that’s been causing his dramatic weight loss. But said that he’s also undergoing treatment and expects to continue running Apple.

Jobs made the disclosure in a letter published on Apple’s Web site Monday morning. The CEO was addressing the latest rumors about his health that had began surfacing after he announced in December he wouldn't deliver the keynote at this year's Macworld Conference and Expo. In his letter, Jobs acknowledged that he had been losing weight throughout 2008, and his doctors had been unable to determine the reason.

“Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been ‘robbing’ me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis,” Jobs wrote in his letter.

According to Jobs, the remedy is a straightforward nutritional issue, and he’s begun treatment. “Just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it,” said Jobs, adding that he expects to remain on as CEO.

“I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now,” Jobs added. “I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.”

Jobs announced in 2004 that he had undergone successful surgery to treat a form of pancreatic cancer — an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. The cancer is extremely rare and easily cured if diagnosed early. Jobs did not have a deadlier and more common form of pancreatic cancer, called adenocarcinoma. I thought that maybe the cancer had returned.

I applaud him for being forthright. It must be daunting to know that something is wrong with your body and not know what it is for a while. He has turned Apple around and is a trailblazer in his own right. The timing is suspect, however, because the conference is about to start on Tuesday.