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The Obesity Virus Scare

New Effects of Adenovirus Infection Have Been Linked to Weight Gain

Jan 30, 2009 Alicia Mae Prater

Obesity is a complex disease with genetic and environmental influences. Now a virus has been implicated in its pathology.

Blogs, newspapers, and the internet are buzzing with the findings from a recent study about the effects of an adenovirus on fat cell replication. Similar findings were published in 2006 and 2007 regarding AD-36 and AD-37. These strains are estimated to infect 1 in every 3 adults, which could include more than 400 million people. Obesity is a risk factor for a number of diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, so its prevention and treatment are big issues in the medical industry.

Adenovirus Induced Weight Gain

Adenovirus is transmitted similarly to the common cold. It usually causes sore throats. In chickens, the virus has been shown to add to the weight gain of overweight animals. Nikhil Dhurandhar of Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana found that, when the virus infects fat cells, it causes them to replicate. The virus has been found in approximately 30 percent of obese individuals but only 11 percent of lean individuals. This has raised the question of whether there is an obesity virus.

The Causes of Obesity

Weight maintenance is a balance between caloric intake and calorie expenditure. Calories are spent through activity (exercise) and metabolism, the energy costs of being alive. Calories are taken in as food and the type of energy source (protein, carbohydrate, or fats) determines how it is processed, used, and stored. All three energy sources are required by the body, but are often ingested in higher quantities than needed in those who are overweight. These excess calories are stored in fat cells, accumulating in different anatomical locations.

The intake of calories is controlled by various neurochemicals, such as leptin , neuropeptide Y, and ghrelin. There are genetic components to their activities, as well as environmental influences to their functions. Metabolism also has genetic and environmental components effecting cellular efficiency and the amount of energy used up in cellular processes, which affects how much is left over to be stored in fat cells.

The Problem with the Idea of an Obesity Virus

The study found that the fat cell replication caused by the virus only lasts three months. This is enough time to gain weight, but not enough to become obese. As an individual’s system adjusts back to normal, they would lose the weight they gained. There would have to be permanent changes to diet, activity levels, or metabolism to result in permanent weight gain.

Another problem with pushing this theory is the already present social stigma surrounding those who are overweight and issues with defining this condition. Obesity is currently measured by body mass index, known as BMI. However, the measurement is only a guideline because it does not take into account muscle mass, bone structure, or the different types of fat tissues present in the body. It is a basic categorization tool using height and weight only. Thus, obesity is not a well defined disease to begin with and many who are not obese may suffer unduly if thought to be infectious.

The media is hyping the recent findings, but according to the researcher who conducted the study, as he told BBC2’s Horizon, “People could be fat for reasons other than viral infections, so it’s pointless for fat people to try to avoid infection.”

The copyright of the article The Obesity Virus Scare in General Medicine is owned by Alicia Mae Prater. Permission to republish The Obesity Virus Scare in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Fat and Lean Mice