Adenoviruses may cause obesity in humans

[foo.c]

"There is accumulating evidence that certain viruses may cause obesity, in essence making obesity contagious, according to Leah D. Whigham, the lead researcher in a new study"

There's a scary thought.

link

[bioman]

Freaky!

Moral of story..obese people have cooties.

The upswing is that finding a causal agent makes it potentially treatable.

[LakeMountD]

haha damnit foo.c you beat me to it . I was just about to post that. You must read google news lol.

I was gonna title it "New secret FDA plan to prevent sickness" haha

[wastedwhiteboy2]

being fat is a disease now and they can't help it. great. they just relieved fat people from their diets and exercise.

[CDB]

I seriously doubt they meant all obesity was caused by the viruses. If it's true it's actually a good thing. Study of a virus that somehow causes obesity could lead to more insights about nutrition in general, and research might actually go some where soon since obesity is being called a national epidemic.

[Nullifidian]

SO misleading. What this research shows is that some viruses can contribute to obesity. Oooo, wow, that's big news! not.

Some viruses suppress appetite. Some cause rapid weightLOSS. Some cause a condition known as hotdog fingers.


Unless they have a test for the viruses which DO cause weightgain then this whole thing is pointless. We KNOW for a fact that weightgain is caused by intake of calories in excess of those expended. That simple. All these viruses might do is:

1) Decrease resting energy expenditure
2) Increase appetite
3) Encourage the storage of fat or encourage the burning of carbohydrates instead of fat.

So really no matter what, it all comes down to diet and exercise. All it means is some folks might have to pay closer attention. It doesn't however change the fact that in order to MAINTAIN a weight of 400 pounds you have to ingest an ungodly disgusting amount of food constantly AND spend every moment of your life virtually immobile.


Translation: if you are fat, it is STILL your fault.