Rampant Obesity may be caused by Viruses

KBOC

New member
Okay... those of you Europeans who vacation in America playing "Spot the Blob" (you know who you are!!!) might wanna read this
tongue.gif


story
Vaccine may target obesity in the future: researchers
Oct 18 2:34 PM US/Eastern
Email this story

When babies receive shots against diseases like polio and measles, their vaccinations may in the future include protection against getting fat, according to researchers.

Infection by certain pathogens triggers rapid increases in fatty tissue in animals, Nikhil Dhurnadha told the annual meeting of NAASO, the Obesity Society, in this western Canadian city.

At the same time, the discovery that many more obese people than normal-weight people have been exposed to a certain virus suggests a link between obesity and viral infection.

"Not all obesity can be explained by infection," said Dhurandhar, of the Pennington Biomedial Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. "Infections can be one of the causes."

Popular opinion has long held that most obesity is caused simply by overeating, underexercise and a lack of will power. But viruses are just one of many contributing factors that scientists have recently discovered.

Researchers are reporting at the conference on other fat triggers that include a genetic tendency to store fat among groups whose ancestors survived famines, medications such as treatments for psychotic mental disorders, toxins in the environment like organochlorines, and infectious agents like bacteria, viruses and prions.

"Obesity is multifactoral," Dhurandhar told scientists at the conference.

In an interview with AFP, he said there is proof that at least 10 different pathogens cause obesity in animals. They include canine distemper virus, RAV7 and MAM1 avian viruses, the Borna virus in rats -- which is also linked with depression in humans, types of scrapie, three adeno viruses including AD5, AD36 and AD37 which cause fat gain in several species, and chlamydia pneumonae bacteria.

Scientists have also found that when mice are infected by general bacteria from the guts of other mice, the recipients body fat increases.

Dhurandhar became interested in viral causes of obesity while working as a family physician in Bombay in the 1980s, during a severe outbreak of SMAM1, an adeno virus that kills chickens.

A friend noticed that the dead chickens were unusually fat, with enlarged livers, kidneys, low cholesterol levels and an atrophied thymus gland.

Dhurandhar wondered how the virus affected people. He tested his own patients, and found 20 per cent of his obese patients had been exposed to SMAM1, and that those people were significantly heavier with lower cholesterol levels.

He moved to the United States to conduct more research, and started working with Richard Atkinson at the University of Wisconsin. Because US authorities refused permission to import the Indian avian virus, the pair decided to work with adeno virus AD36.

First, they infected laboratory chickens, mice and monkeys, all of which grew significantly fatter and had lower cholesterol.

Then, because they could not test the virus on humans, they examined stored blood from 500 people in Wisconsin, Florida and New York. They found antibodies for AD36 in 30 per cent of the obese people, but only in 11 per cent of people with normal body weight.

And, just as Dhurandhar earlier discovered among his Indian patients, the obese who had been exposed to the virus were 20 per cent heavier than other overweight people.

Further tests on tissue from lab monkeys taken over a nine-year period showed that healthy monkeys newly infected by AD36 "gained 15 per cent body weight in six months, and dropped their cholesterol by 30 per cent."

The scientists also studied 26 pairs of twins, and found that in cases where one twin had been exposed to AD36, in all cases their weight was significantly greater.

"In 10 years, people may be able to walk into a clinic and be told that their obesity is due to X cause, such as genes, the endocrine system, or pathogens. That may have a more productive outcome than a blanket treatment right now, (which) is not very successful," said Dhurandhar.

And because viruses are hard or impossible to treat, he said, prevention through vaccines will be key.
 

ApeXX

Banned
I really think that it is the American culture and life-style that causes 25% of kids under the age of 18 to be considered medically "obese". Honestly, with some good excercise, the right eating habits, and some determination, almost anyone can lose weight without the use of dangerous weight loss supplements.
 

irir123

Banned
Virus leading to obesity is a new finding, but still people are working on it and many things are not clear yet

but the classic American lifestyle is what is leading to not only obesity, but every other known non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, etc
 

Gongchime

New member
The article says "according to researchers". I know which kind of researchers too. Viral Researchers. Who want people to think that there is a viral cause to cancer too but no matter how many people they hoodwink into giving them money to research it, will never make it true.

This article is bullshit along with the idea of stopping obesity with expensive viral medication as is the hope of ever making a medicine to stop cancer designed to kill viruses. Lunacy, Idiocy, Stupidity. Organizations similar to the American Medical Association's major talent (such as the pharmaceutical industry) is in using their prestige and credentials to lie incoherently enough in the form of biased research to get ignorant rich people to give them even more money. As if they weren't already richer than most small countries. I'm not buying any of it.
 

harfo32

New member
Obesity has increased in Greece since the advent of fast food outlets. Not many people go to the evil Macdonald - such an ugly blight on so many urban landscapes - but there are others, and kids love them! Doctor John says eat carefully during the week but forget the diet and enjoy yourself at the weekend! The ancient Greeks had a motto for it - a balanced mind in a balanced body, or "balance in everything!"
alc.gif
 

ApeXX

Banned
The American culture is what attributes to most of the obesity in the US. The kids these days are raised on fast-food and sugar cereal. Soda is also more popular than it ever has been, a drink very high in sugar and carbs.
 

Priest

Commodore of Impending Doom II
more excercise should do the trick.. looking for explanations seems more like an excuse to me..
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
Funny - I've been watching "Biggest Loser" which is in its third season here ... now don't get me wrong, I hate populist T.V. like Big Brother (which I refuse to watch) but I find Biggest Loser compelling. It's now gotten down to the last five contestants and they've all lost tons of weight by sticking to two basic things: 1) diet and 2) exercise. In both cases the regime they've adhered to is rigid and taxing.
 

methodistgirl

New member
Where have I heard that before KBOC? People will say anything about
why we are overweight. I learned a long time ago to take things like
that with a grain of salt.
judy tooley
 
Top