Dr. Magdalena Pasarica has found a new "fattening" virus

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 400 million people worldwide are currently overweight or obese. Included in that number is an astonishing 20 million children under the age of five who are getting fatter faster than any other generation before it.

But could there be more to this prescient issue than overeating?

That's something researchers are examining behind-the-scenes right now and they think a common virus found in humans is the culprit in nearly one-third of the obese, according to this WebMD article about the findings presented at the 234th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society last month in Boston, Massachusetts.
 

Lead researcher Dr. Magdalena Pasarica, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Endocrinology Lab at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and her fellow researchers were observing lab tests from adult male and female liposuction patients many of which had a common respiratory and eye infection-causing virus called adenovirus-36, aka Ad-36 as well as E4Orfl.

But they noticed something odd about this Ad-36 virus.

When they pulled the adult stem cells from the tissue samples and infected them with Ad-36, after one week those cells had become "fat" cells while the uninfected ones had not. In fact, when the researchers put more of the Ad-36 virus in the cells, there was an even higher amount of fat developed. The same cause and effect happened regardless of sex.

Even worse, those "fat" cells actually began collecting fat more rapidly than normal which leads to an even greater growth--of the fat cells and then of stored fat on the body. It all leads back to Ad-36 as the culprit in this fat development in the body.

It turns out that Ad-36 in adult stem cells can turn them into fat cells. Dr. Pasarica calls this the "fattening effect" which she believes should be the impetus for working on a vaccine or drug to remedy the problem. Previous research by Dr. Pasarica's team found that Ad-36 was found in nearly one-third (30 percent) of the obese compared with only 11 percent of the non-obese.

Dr. Pasarica noticed in this new study that Ad-36 will ultimately "store more fat." However, she was quick to note that Ad-36 has not been shown to actually cause obesity and it may not even impact the weight of those who are exposed to it.

"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," Dr. Pasarica explained. "We would ultimately like to identify the underlying factors that predispose some obese people to [the effects of] this virus and eventually find a way to treat it."

The researchers are looking into why this virus causes fat to store and how long it will continue to do so even after being removed.

But...

The very likelihood that the Ad-36 virus could be the source of over 100 million cases of obesity is why the researchers will undoubtedly be pushing for that anti-obesity vaccine to specifically treat this viral infection. Oh boy, here we go again!

How many obesity vaccines are we going to have on the market? We've already seen ones like this that reduces ghrelin levels, an anti-obesity nasal spray called CP404, and let's not forget about the new over-the-counter drug that treats obesity while stinking up your pants called Alli.

And there are more than 50 human adenovirus strands out there that may each need their own vaccine to combat. You may recall I blogged about Ad-37 in January 2006 discovered by American Obesity Association President Dr. Richard L. Atkinson who claimed this virus made obesity contagious. One other obesity-related strand that we know of includes Ad-5.

So where does it end? Sure, I will admit that there is a real possibility that some people are fat because of something other than their diet and physical activity. But don't we all agree that the overwhelming majority of overweight and obese people have gotten that way from making poor dietary choices? Obesity is NOT a disease and I believe that now more than ever before.

Putting the onus on an obscure virus that may or may not be the cause and making that the presumed reason for obesity grants the overweight and obese permission to do nothing pro-active about their weight and health. Instead, they'll plop down hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars to get these various "miracle" vaccines with a myriad of possible side effects. What's the point?

While it is interesting to look at obesity through the eyes of scientific research, it is much more practical and helpful to the obese for them to be encouraged to take individual responsibility for their own weight and health. Sure, there are other factors involved in their problem other than food. But that's a good place to start.

Teaching a wide variety of healthy nutritional concepts and allowing people to choose the ones that will work best for them is a much more effective way to take on the growing obesity epidemic than coming up with more and more drugs, sprays, and vaccines to fight it.

We don't have a lack of medical answers, but rather the need for some clarity in the realm of obesity treatment, including practical, real-life all-natural solutions that could put a major dent in this problem. Until we arm people with the useful information they need to get a handle on their obesity, we'll keep on toiling in disappointing attempts that keep failing us time and time again.

Dr. Pasarica's research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). And additional research dollars have already been requested by her research team to continue exploring the Ad-36 connection to obesity.

One of Dr. Pasarica's fellow research colleagues is Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar who I have featured here at my blog previously with his research on the satiating effects of eggs compared with bagels for breakfast. Dr. Dhurandhar is the one who came up with the clever term "infectobesity" to describe the condition brought on by viruses like Ad-5, Ad-36, and Ad-37.

Global obesity has been a keen research interest of Dr. Dhurandhar since he observed a few years back that chickens in India infected with the bird flu virus actually got fatter prior to their death. He has wanted to know why ever since and began looking at various virus strains to see if there was a same connection happening in humans. That's when he came across Ad-36.

Dr. Dhurandhar says that we need to take care of this culprit in the obesity epidemic as one small step in the right direction.

"We're not talking about preventing all types of obesity, but if it is caused by this virus in humans, we want a vaccine to prevent this," he noted.

When challenged with my assertion that most people are simply making poor dietary choices and that is leading to their obesity, Dr. Dhurandhar says there's more to it than that.

"Certainly overeating has something to do with gaining weight. No doubt about that," he admitted. "But that is not the whole truth."

He said the causes of obesity include overeating, a genetic predisposition, poor metabolism, and even viruses and infections. It's that last one that has Dr. Dhurandhar and others anxious to begin work on a vaccine and other treatment options.

I'm still not convinced that is going to do anything other than create yet another overpriced obesity drug available to a desperate society hoping for a cure to a problem--one that can be overcome naturally with a little bit of blood, sweat, and tears. THAT'S the message people need to be hearing (which is what the British Medical Association head was trying to say a few weeks back) and I'll keep saying it until the message finally sinks in. 

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