A common virus, causing cold can be a factor causing obesity, according to a study conducted at the Pennington Biomedical Research centre at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
The researcher further says that “virus is not the only cause of obesity but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections.’’
The adenovirus-36 (AD36) has already been implicated at the cause of weighting gain in animals, and with this study also, researchers showed for the first time that it can also cause humans to pile on the pounds (kilograms).
These findings could accelerate the development of a vaccine or an anti viral medication to help fight the battle of the bulge, alongside the diet and exercise which the other factors are causing obesity.
A previous study showed that 33.3% of the obese people are infected with the virus, compared to their linear counter parts who are 10% affected.
In laboratory experiments, it is found that the bug appeared to promote the formation of fat cells from stem cells. The team took adult stem cells from fatty tissue left over from patients who had undergone liposuction (a procedure to remove fat from the body), and exposed some of it to AD-36, leaving the remaining cells untreated. They are allowed to grow in a tissue culture for a week of time, most of the virus-infected adult stem cells developed into fat cells, (where as the untreated cells did not develop in fatty cells).
The researchers further says , “it is not clear what drives the transformation, how long the virus lingers in the human system or whether its fat-enhancing effect continues after the body has cleared the virus.”
As the research is going on, the real mechanism will be revealed in the near future. As usual we should always keep in mind the other factors that cause obesity like,
- Lack of exercise,
- Excess food intake,
- Depression (sometimes the patient takes extra food to combat depression), etc.
If it is true, it may be difficult to control Obesity. Obesity is a major factor in causing Type2 Diabetes, Coronary Heart disease and other lifestyle related chronic diseases.
