Weight gain linked to a common virus

January 27, 10:56 AMScience News ExaminerMeg Marquardt

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The animal scale

It is currently referred to as the Obesity Epidemic.  And while the CDC estimates that one-third of Americans are obese, many argue that “epidemic” always seemed like a misleading title, as though obesity may one day be “cured” by a medicinal treatment like a virus.  However, a recent study shows a link between a virus infection and obesity, meaning epidemic may not be an entirely inappropriate word to use, but one that must be applied with caution.

A recent study shows that “33 per cent of obese adults had contracted an adenovirus called AD-36 at some point in their lives, whereas only 11 per cent of lean men and women have had the virus.” [Live Science]  The information is not new to scientists, who have thought that AD-36 may play a role in weight gain since the late 1990s, but there is worry that the study is being misconstrued by the general population and will paint the wrong picture about obesity. The term “blowing things out of proportion” comes to mind, a tactic that is used with disturbing regulatory to turn science into sensationalism.

For example, the UK paper Daily Express reported that “Obesity can be ‘caught’ as easily as a common cold from other people’s coughs, sneezes and dirty hands, scientists will claim today. The shocking discovery will add to evidence that Britain’s obesity epidemic is not simply down to an unhealthy diet or lack of exercise.  Researchers believe that an airborne ‘adenovirus’ germ could be causing the fat plague that is blighting Britain and other countries.”
 
For the record, that’s not what most scientists are saying.

Adenoviruses are extremely prevalent in the world, with 49 known strains that cause a whole spectrum of illnesses from the common cold to eye inflammation to bronchitis.  This specific strain of adenovirus, AD-36, does indeed have an impact on weight gain.   And the leader of the study, Louisiana scientist Nikhil Dhurandhar, the man who first fingered AD-36 as a player in obesity over a decade ago, has new evidence as to the true threat of the virus on increased weight: “When [the virus] goes to fat tissue it replicates, making more copies of itself and in the process increases the number of new fat cells, which may explain why people get fat when they are infected with this virus.” [Daily Express] As these new fat cells travel into other parts of the body, weight gain occurs.

There is no denying the evidence that shows AD-36 may cause some weight gain, but stating that “obesity can be caught” and thus treated solely like a virus is, quite frankly, ludicrous.  And it is not the scientist’s research that will cause the skewing of the truth, but rather it is the spin that publications can put on the story that will lead to unhelpful confusion.  It has been long established that environmental factors are the leading cause of obesity and undermining that truth may be detrimental in the end.  "These associations may give some clues but they detract from the basic message that we all need to take more exercise and eat a bit less," said Tony Barnett, professor of medicine at the University of Birmingham. [Live Science]