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In a letter to the "Apple community", Jobs claims he is suffering from a "hormone imbalance".

Click here to read the full text of Steve Jobs' letter

This has resulted in weight loss over the past year, with

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doctors believing it will take Jobs until the end of the spring to regain his normal body weight.

This led him to pull out of the keynote at this week's MacWorld Expo, the letter claims.

Jobs says his decision to skip the keynote led to a "flurry of rumours about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed."

"As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008," he writes. "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.

"The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I've already begun treatment," he adds. "I will continue as Apple's CEO during my recovery."

The news may help to calm the nerves of Apple investors, who have seen the company's share price slump amid rumours of Jobs' cancer returning.

(Picture courtesy of Matthew Yohe)