I was surprised by this article in Scientific American about a link
between obesity and viruses. Even in chickens.
Key phrase by researcher:
"I am not saying that all obesity is caused by viruses," Dhurandhar
notes. "Obesity has multiple causes and viruses may be one of those causes."
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=000EEADC-A456-13DA-A45683414B7F0000
Study Strengthens Link between Virus and Weight Gain
Science Image: fat, weight, obesity
New study results bolster the controversial hypothesis that certain
cases of obesity are contagious. Over the last 20 years, some research
has suggested that certain strains of human and avian
adenoviruses--responsible for ailments ranging from the chest colds to
pink eye--actually make individuals build up more fat cells. Having
antibodies to one strain in particular, so-called Ad-36, proved to
correlate with the heaviest obese people and in one study, pairs of
twins differed in heft depending on exposure to that virus. Now
researchers have identified another strain of adenovirus that makes
chickens plump.
Physiologist Leah Whigham of the University of Wisconsin Madison and her
colleagues inoculated young male chickens with three strains of
adenovirus--Ad-2, Ad-31 and Ad-37. She and her team then monitored the
chickens for three and a half weeks, recording their food intake
throughout. Though the infected chickens and non-infected controls
consumed the same amount of food and were exposed to the same
conditions, chickens carrying Ad-37 were found to have nearly three
times as much fat in their guts and more than two times as much fat over
their entire body at the end of the three-and-a-half week period. The
other two virus strains appeared to have little effect on weight.
"Ad-37 is the third human adenovirus to increase adiposity in animals,
but not all adenoviruses produce obesity," Whigham and her fellow
authors write in their report presenting the findings in the current
issue of the American Journal of Physiology. Although it remains unclear
exactly how Ad-37 adds fat, it joins a growing list of such viruses,
including canine distemper, Ad-5 and Ad-36.
Ad-36 has been shown in an in vitro study by researcher Nikhil
Dhurandhar of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center to help human
cells go from having the potential to store fat to actually storing it.
"I am not saying that all obesity is caused by viruses," Dhurandhar
notes. "Obesity has multiple causes and viruses may be one of those causes."
--
1) Eat Till SATISFIED, Not STUFFED... Atkins repeated 9 times in the book
2) Exercise: It's Non-Negotiable..... Chapter 22 title, Atkins book
3) Don't Diet Without Supplimental Nutrients... Chapter 23 title, Atkins
book
4) A sensible eating plan, and follow it. (Atkins, Self Made or Other)