Obesity linked with a common virus
Tuesday, August 21st, 2007This new report form researchers from Louisiana’s Pennington Center. They found that the stem cells convert in to fat cells following infection with common virus called adenovirus. Though this doesn’t show direct correlation, shows a possibility of obesity being a infectious disease with possible treatment(???). Even more a previous study from researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, in San Diego, looked at data collected over 32 years as part of a heart study showed that having a friend, sibling or spouse who is overweight raises a person’s risk of being obese too.
This two research show a distant causation between obesity and viral infection though other important things like genetics and other environmental factors also have important role.
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Obesity ‘may be linked to virus’
(bbc)Scientists believe a virus may play a role in obesity, raising the possibility that medication could be used to tackle the condition.
A team at Louisiana’s Pennington Center found that a common virus could cause stem cells to change into fat cells in lab experiments.
Researchers told the American Chemical Society conference anti-viral treatments might be possible.
But UK experts said the idea of obesity as an infectious illness was unlikely.
The properties of adenovirus-36, long known as a cause of colds and eye infections, have been under investigation for several years, with animal experiments suggesting that it might have some connection to the laying down of fat cells.
The idea that a virus could be a factor in some cases of obesity has not found widespread support, with most insisting that weight gain can be explained far more simply through poor diet and lack of exercise.
The Pennington team’s latest research uses human stem cells in the laboratory.
Stem cells are the body’s “master cells”, and scientists have been gradually unlocking the secrets of how they are transformed to make new tissue.
The researchers extracted stem cells from fatty tissue taken from liposuction patients, and exposed some to adenovirus-36.
After the cells were left for a week, those exposed to the virus had changed into human fat cells, while those left to grow without the virus had not.
Treatment hope
While the scientists say that they are unsure how the virus might cause obesity in humans, they believe that they have found a gene within it that causes fat accumulation in animals.
Dr Magdalena Pasarica, who led the research, said: “We’re not saying that a virus is the only cause of obesity, but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections.
“Not all infected people will develop obesity - we would ultimately like to identify the underlying factors that predispose some obese people to develop this virus and eventually find a way to treat it.”
Not everyone is convinced, however. Dr Colin Waine, of the National Obesity Forum in the UK, said that while it was attractive to chase a “holy grail”, more practical measures were the best way to tackle the western world’s obesity epidemic.
“Basically, when energy consumed exceeds expenditure, that’s when weight increases.”
Dr Nick Finer, from the Centre for Obesity Research, said that while the virus was “interesting”, the idea of an infectious cause of obesity was hard to accept ahead of far more convincing explanations.
“I just can’t see how this explains the epidemic of obesity we are experiencing,” he said.
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Obesity contagious, experts say
(bbc)Having a friend, sibling or spouse who is overweight raises a person’s risk of being obese too, US researchers say.
They said data on more than 12,000 people suggested the risk was increased by 57% if a friend was obese, by 40% if a sibling was and 37% if a spouse was.
They argued this showed social factors, such as the body sizes of other people, were important in developing obesity.
Experts said the New England Journal of Medicine study was not conclusive as other hidden factors could be to blame.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, in San Diego, looked at data collected over 32 years as part of a heart study.
Participants gave personal information, including their body mass index, and the names of friends who could be contacted.
‘Causal relationship’
The authors were able to map social connections including both friends and family members.
The effects were generally larger between people of the same sex.
And their analysis suggested that the links could not be solely attributed to similarities in lifestyle and environment, for example the impact of friends existed even where friends lived in different regions.
Author Professor Nicholas Christakis said: “It’s not that obese or non-obese people simply find other similar people to hang out with.
“Rather, there is a direct, causal relationship. What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size.
“People come to think that it is OK to be bigger since those around them are bigger, and this sensibility spreads.”
Moral support
Dr Richard Suzman, director of the National Institute of Aging’s Behavioral and Social Research Programme, said the finding could have important implications.
He said: “This seminal study breaks important new ground in showing how social networks may amplify other factors and help account for the dramatic increase in obesity across the [US] population.”
Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of charity Weight Concern, said it was no surprise that people who are obese tended to be friends with others who were obese, but that the fact that the link was more important between friends than siblings was “very interesting”.
He said this suggested that social factors were even more important than physical ones in obesity.
He added that, on the positive side, if overweight people had friends who were obese, they could offer moral support to help each other lose weight.
‘Speculation’
But Professor Andrew Hill, of the University of Leeds, said it was purely speculation to suggest that people’s body images change because their friends become obese.
And he said it was important not to forget things which are known as key factors in obesity, such as diet and exercise.
“The statistics may be meaningful, but in real life this is not very helpful to people who are overweight.
“We don’t have an understanding of what is really causing the relationship - it might be very complicated.”
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