SubscribeThe Obesity Virus
A group of researchers are claiming that a virus may be a cause of obesity.
"lab tests showed that exposure to adenovirus-36 (Ad-36), which causes respiratory and eye infections, also causes stem cells to develop into fat cells."
The research team has been studying the virus for some time (link).
...researchers obtained adult stem cells from the tissue samples and then infected half of the cells with the virus. The cells were allowed to grow in culture for about a week.By the end of that period, most of the infected cells infected with Ad-36 had developed into so-called "pre-fat" cells, but the uninfected cells did not.
The more virus they inserted into the cells, the greater the fat growth observed, the researchers said. This effect was evident among tissue taken from both men and women.
Will there be a vaccine for obesity?
More like this in Health · Aug 22, 2007
I think will turn out to be a Red Herring. We hear a lot of theories about this or that causing obesity and perhaps this actually perpetuates the problem by raising doubts and uncertainties in the sufferer.
There's an easy way to tell if viruses, thyroid or any other issue is affecting your ability to lose weight.
Reduce calories by 500 per day for 1 week. If you've not lost weight then go to your doctor. You certainly have other issues.
If you got 100 people and gave them a 500 cal deficit I would estimate that around about 100 would lose weight.
~Mike.
ReplyFrom the abstract:of the paper that determined correlation with infection of adenovirus-36 (Ad-36) and obesity:
ReplyMy philosophy about the "discovery" of an obesity virus is this: It simply gives the overweight and obese one more excuse for not taking personal responsibility for their own actions and making sure the appropriate steps are taken to get their weight and health under control.
People always want the easy fix. Give me a pill, a vaccine, a nasal spray--WHATEVER!--so I don't have to change my habits one iota. It's this mentality that keeps making us fatter and fatter when all it would take is a little effort on the part of the individual.
Providing more excuses for why it can't be done is not the answer to the obesity epidemic. Instead, we need to be sharing more about the natural and healthy nutritional choices that ARE working so that people will take ownership of their problem and work to rectify it for good.
Can a virus be a part of the obesity problem in some small way? Perhaps. But I do believe the personal choices of those who are obese are exactly why they got that way to begin with. Thus, they need to use that same strategy to remedy the situation.
Losing weight is not easy (believe me, I struggled with it for most of my life), but it can and MUST be done. Stop waiting on the "magic pill" and start getting to work on getting your life and and health in order.
ReplyI read something similar to this in my Women's Health magazine this month. It mentioned an obesity virus that had been discovered - I'm assuming it was the same thing. However, it said that those with one copy of the virus weighed 3 lbs more on average, and those with 2 copies (the max) weighed 6 lbs more.
Reply3-6 pounds does not an obese person make, I'm sure. This may be one small piece of the puzzle - but Jimmy's right, we need to take personal responsibility also.
Ulcers were once thought to be caused by stress and diet. Scientists now believe that most ulcers are caused by a bacterial infection.
People with epilepsy were thought to be controlled by demons. Of course, we now believe it to be a physical condition.
Ever since I learned about Prader-Willi Syndrome, I realized that excess weight and obesity are complex issues, and there is often more going on than "too many calories in, not enough calories going out."
Science developments are constant. Knowledge is not. It would be wise to remember this.
ReplyHi Claire,
I think this was talking about genes. The "Thrifty" gene rings a bell.
~Mike.
ReplyAmen to that... that there is the voice of sanity. Now we have a new food pyramid we can be sure the old was was WRONG. So what faith can we have in the new one? Not much really.
Nature and observation should provide all the hypothesis we need and science should confirm or deny. That aint happening and we are all suffering as a result.
ReplyIt kind of annoys me that every time there's some sort of biological indicator that may correllate, in part, with higher weight, people are incredibly quick to jump on board with the personal responsibility hammer.
Of COURSE eating right and excercising are good for you. Of course everyone is (with few exceptions) responsible for what they put in their mouth and do with their body.
But it seems pretty clear that while 2000 calories in may be the same amount to anyone, different people expend that 2000 (or 1200 or 2800 or whatever) at very different rates. There is a lot that we can't control about that part of the process. We don't know very much about it at this point, but that doesn't give us the right to judge other people as if everything about the way they look comes down to a moral judgement.
And, yeah, I'm guessing it's a slight effect. Another thing that goes into figuring out what actually constitutes "calories out" for the individual.
ReplyYou're right Mike, it was a gene - I just went back and read the article. Whoops!
ReplyOh.. come on.. this kind of news comes up every year.. it is not a virus, it is a disease...
ReplyPeople really need to get their heads out of the sand and realize that they are ultimately responsible for their own health. If obesity is caused by a virus, does that mean that when I was obese, I had the virus and now that I'm slim I don't have it anymore? Or is it in some sort of dormant state, like with herpes? Just about everyone I know who is obese eats too many calories per day and doesn't work out. Of course, there are genes that cause certain groups of people to store fat more efficiently than others, but that just means that everyone has to determine the level of calorie intake they need to maintain a healthy weight. It will be more for some people than others, of course, but everyone has the potential to be a normal weight.
ReplyIT'S NOT A VIRUS! It's a systemic yeast infection, one type which is known as candidiasis. There is a naturally-occuring yeast in your GI tract called candida albacans. When you take an antibiotic, or ingest a fungal metabolite in food, it destroys the "good bacteria" that keeps this yeast in balance. The yeast then proliferates, bores holes in your colon, (leaky gut syndrome) and attacks areas of weakness. I WAS CURED of arthritis, severe allergies, irritable bowel syndrome and pre-diabetes by taking acidophilus and natural antifungals (garlic, oregano, turmeric, cider vinegar and olive leaf extract.) Two days after I went on a no-sugar, no-grain diet, I went through several days of nausea, as the yeast in my colon came up into my stomach "looking" for it's natural foods.
Reply(All grains metabolize into sugar.)When the nausea went away, I broke out in a rash at sweat-points. This is the yeast's last-ditch effort to find "food." When the rash was dead and gone, so were my cravings! It's not you that craves sugar, it's the yeast infection in your body! Don't know about the word limit here, so I'm going to post a "part two."
Hm, I really mucked up my posting up there - sorry. Go read the abstract of the paper - it hints that infection with Ad-36 might predispose one to being overweight, but isn't by itself a cause of obesity.
So, here's my Stupid Question Of The Day: we all know that if you eat too many calories, then the excess is stored as fat - 3500 excess calories = 1 lb of fat. If you want to lose weight, cut back, oh, 500 calories a day from your stable point, and you'll lose a pound a week. The number of calories you burn in a day depends on many factors, like exercise and metabolism, but otherwise it's the old calories/weight balance.
But, that's a very fine balance. I've read articles that say things like "if you eat an extra 150-calorie cookie a week, then you're adding 150*52 = 2.2 lbs a year. So, watch those cookies! But, that's not the way it works. There's obviously a range of calories - probably more complex than just calories; it probably depends at least on the macronutrients - that you can consume and keep a constant weight. I just don't believe that the calorie balance is so narrow that, if you took someone whose weight has been constant, and have them eat 1 teaspoon of sugar every day, that you would find at the end of the year to have gained 1.6 pounds.
So, why is it hard to accept the influence of a viral infection like this? If, as a result of infection with Ad-36, you end up with more fat cells, then that might reset your balance enough that you *would* actually add that extra 1.6 pounds by increasing your sugar consumption by only 1 tsp a day for a year.
ReplyPART TWO: Symptoms of a systemic yeast infection are dandruff, toenail fungus, jock itch, vaginal yeast infections, allergies, asthma, infertility, edema, congestive heart failure, DIABETES, CANCER... Even hereditary diseases often respond well to a no-sugar, no-grain diet. I have a friend with MS who is basically symptom free, on this diet. When she eats sugars and grains, she is soon bedridden! Another friend with CMT has had similar results. FOR MORE INFORMATION see knowthecause.tv, and books by Doug Kaufman, such as "The Germ that Causes Cancer," "Infectious Diabetes," What Makes Bread Rise?" (and people fat) and "The Fungus Link." He also has a book on infertility.
ReplyMercola.com is also a good resource. Also look for Doug Kaufman's show KNOW THE CAUSE on Sky Angel or Family Net. THIS MAN SAVED MY LIFE! (And helped me have a life worth living!)
What makes people fat? Think of how you make bread: You take warm water (your body is 98.6 degrees and over 80% water) add YEAST and FEED it sugar. The same thing happens when you feed sugar (and grains, which metabolize into sugar) to the yeast in your warm, wet body. Doctors say "virus" because "virus" is a catch-all for things they don't understand. All they know how to do is poison (pills, chemo) burn (radiation) and cut (surgery.) BUT I AM CURED! -- CURED!
By the way, digestive problems such as GIRD also respond to a no-grain, no-sugar diet and natural, anti-fungal supplements. Some chiropractors can help with knowing what supplements to take.
ReplyQuito--I've always been really skeptical of those reports that say "If you eat 1 tsp of sugar extra per day, you'll gain 5 lbs in a year" or whatever. I don't think that's true at all. I find that if I give myself a calorie window of about 250 per day or so, my weight does not change. I'm guessing that different people have different maintenance windows as well...it probably depends on how active you are and how much muscle mass you have.
Also, isn't it true that all your fat cells are formed by adolescence? And from then on, you just fill and empty them out? I've always wondered about that...since I was a fat teen, does that mean it will always be harder for me to maintain a healthy weight than someone who was a thin teen and now has a weight problem as an adult? Makes you wonder.
ReplyJust another excuse to stay fat. It's a DISEASE that's easy to treat NOT a virus! a fat Dr./scientist came out with this one for sure!!! LOL virus!!!LOL!!!
ReplyWhat's next alcoholism is a virus too?!?! LOL!!
ReplyOur newest Postdoctoral Researcher is Magdalena. She graduated from medical school in Romania and then got her Ph.D. in Nutrition. Her thesis was entitled "Effects of adipogenic Ad36 on adipocytes and their progenitors". Magdalena started working in Dr Smith’s lab on May 1st 2006. Her plan is to connect clinical research with her prior experience in cell and molecular biology to perform patient oriented research (particularly in diabetes research). When she's not running around completeing one task after another, she likes to take time to travel. Specifically, she tends to choose places where she can go down-hill skiing or swimming or just admire different cultures and art works from all over the world. She also likes to talk about Romania a lot, so others can know what a beautiful country it is, particularly its interesting way of life and history. But she claims that Romanians are not really vampires, like some might suspect. However, we often wonder about that since she doesn't seem to have a shadow and even as I type this, I feel sort of controlled by a hypnotic power to include all Madalena's best traits and credentials in this paragraph...ANYWAY! The rest of the time, Magdalena enjoys dancing the Waltz, the Tango and the Salsa. Watch out for our Femme Fatale...she can be very intense! ; )
ReplyYep... due to Thermic Effect. Protein is hardest to digest i.e. you'll burn more calories to digest it. Fat is easiest to digest.
For practical purposes, I reckon it's best to eat normal portions of protein and reduce fat and carb.
500 is a rough guide and rough is about as accurate as you need to be. Let's keep it as simple as possible.
ReplyI'm sure pharmaceutical companies are gagging at the thought of making an anti-obesity virus medication to sell to suckers who believe in things like obesity viruses. Profit, profit, profit!
ReplyI wasn't thinking of the thermic effect. My logic was simpler - there must be a range of calories (qualified in a bunch of ways) such that if you eat within that range, then you won't gain or lose weight. And, the range has to be rather broad - like Spectra's personal observation of 250 calories a day. One's body must be able to react - by becoming less efficient in digestion or in metabolism - to maintain the body weight. Otherwise, weight won't stabilize.
Assuming this is correct - I've never seen anything written about this - then, the effects of Ad-36 could be to reset this balance by creation of new fat cells.
I understand the reactions - big profits for pharmas, big excuses for people to blame something else, and so on - but, the scientific result will stand or fall on the accuracy of the research.
Spectra, I've heard that too about fat cells and adolescence - once you got 'em, you don't lose them. I don't know if there has been a long cohort study of this, though. I remember being taught that you never grow new brain cells, and we now know that we do (moderate consumption of alcohol is correlated with new brain cells too - what a great opportunity for social reaction there!) My guess is, we don't really know what happens with fat cells over the very long time.
ReplyAh ha! And here we go again. If you are overweight/fat according to some chart we made up you are "sick"!! Call it a virus, call it a bacteria, call it personal irresponsibility..but it all says the same thing, "if you are not thin, SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG WITH YOU AND WE INTEND TO RUB YOUR NOSE IT IN!" Oh please. I will say it again, this is not about numbers, or apperance people, this about health. When you go to the doctor are you HEALTHY? If you are, then stop listening to these crazy people who have nothing better to do with their time then pick on other people who are different. If you are not healthy, talk to your doctor about what you can do to help yourself. Don't rely on the media to help you, go to a real professional!
ReplyWell, when you go to your doctor and say 'hmmm, why isn't this working?' the doctor assumes that you, the fat person, are a lying compulsive overeater. According to the Medical Establishment, when the Fat Patient is lying about what they eat and how they exercise, or the weight would have gone down. No other explanation is looked for... it's always assumed that it's the fault of the Fat Patient.
Don't get me wrong, denial is a powerful mechanism, and I have indeed had family members who do not include the brownie at lunch on their dietician's meal plan, and other friends who insist that picking the breading off fried chicken makes it healthy, and that bread slathered in garlic butter is just fine because we need a certain amount of fat in our diets... yeah, I know, I know, those people are out there.
But there are also plenty of frustrated and embarassed people who walk the miles, avoid sugar, count every calorie, and are still lectured by their doctor/dietician/Weight Watcher's group because OBVIOUSLY they are lying, or the scale would go down.
Shame and guilt are not effective medical or motivational tactics.
ReplyAre we talking to our doctors about our weight because we are not healthy, or because we choose to believe the societal MYTH that fat is bad? If you have health problems, address them, and if you are being honest and your doctor is NOT helping you, pick a different doctor. Otherwise, PLEASE stop thinking that there is something wrong with you simply because you weigh a certain amount. You know, if we just accepted that all people are different, and focused in on what is important, like health, morals, vaules, the way we treat each other...then the diet industry would stop making billions of dollars and we would all have a little more money to spend on GAS!! LOL Seriously, though..its not about "fat", its about HEALTH.
ReplyI can back this one up. My old doctor implied very strongly that I was lying, despite me bringing in physical food and exercise logs. As if I'd put that much work in a lie.
He thought my exercise was a lie until I finally brought him in copies of race results of the recent 10+ mile races I had competed in and a trophy from the one the very previous weekend.
Even then, wasn't very helpful.
UGH.
Back in highschool, I had an eating disorder. At one point I was eating less than 1000 Cal a day (on my way down) but was still overweight. I asked my doctor what I should do because dieting and exercising wasn't working. He said, Eat less. Unfortunately, I did.
ReplyHeartbreaking. That is so bad, not because you did as you were told, but because, ONCE AGAIN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION LET US DOWN!
My sister suffers from eating disorders that nearly killed her and her first child because her body did not have the nutritional basics to support even her own body. Please, I beg you all, do not kill yourself for "image". No matter what anyone says, you are a worthwhile, lovable, and yes, I dare to go there, beautiful person, and do not need to kill yourself to meet societies crazy idea of pretty!!!!
If I was not clear before, can we please talk about health rather then some obsure number on a chart or scale? Or worse yet, about needing to look like a stick in order to feel good?
The question that you have to ask yourself is ARE YOU HEALTHY? DO YOU EAT GOOD FOR YOU FOODS? DO YOU WALK, PLAY WITH YOUR KIDS, GO TO THE GYM? ARE YOU TAKING GOOD CARE OF YOUR BODY?
:) much love for you all!!
ReplyMy feel is that there's no range. Your body will store the excess and that's that. Your body may adjust intake by regulation of appetite but that's it.
If I overeat at a meal, I'm not hungry, often for the rest of that day. Talking of which, I recently came across some interesting information about serotonin as regulator of appetite.
The key is to have an afternoon snack and dinner meal of carbs only. Fascinating stuff actually and I reckon could be an important factor in the overeating conundrum -- especially for anti-depressant users or people struggling with mood and food.
Apparantly, serotonin is like a switch that tells you to stop eating.
Corrtect me if I'm wrong -- my understanding is that the body will only slow metabolism as a reaction to severe restriction in calories. Thermic effect, meal timing, age and exercise intensity affect metabolism.
Three of those you can do something about :-)
The idea that your body will somehow get rid of excess calories by adjusting metabolism -- nah :-)
~Mike.
ReplyGawd! Well, food amnesia IS a common problem for sure. You gotta take all the data. He'll be impressed :-) Log every morsel and your calculations for target calories to be -500.
If you do suspect other issues... you need to know, and this is a very easy way to know but you HAVE to log every little scrap and weigh everything for a week.
After a week, you should have lost a few pounds (including the water loss)
If you are doing it right and not losing weight, there are definately other issues and you definately need to get those issues checked imo. Like thyroid?
If you have the data and your doc treats you as a liar, then maybe find another doc!?
Cheers
ReplyMike
Blimey... that makes me feel sad. You asked for help and got none. Alas, many many docs haven't got the first clue about nutrition OR weight loss. In my experience, those that have are self-taught.
This is so right. Health has to play the bigger part in the weight loss picture. Everything affects everything else. Nutrient deficientcies are rife and can affect many things.
The numbers matter in the planning in my view. Otherwise the overriding urge is to eat to maintain current weight. The numbers matter in getting your target just right so that weight loss is pain-free, sustainable and effective.
To me it's a crying shame that the whole weight loss thing is such a difficult ask for many people. In theory it seems so simple to me but I know in practice, there are many issues such as emotional triggers and so on that factor in.
Mike
ReplyMike,
I'm not a nutritionist - I'm a professor in a science/engineering department. So, I'm just using the tools I have at hand.If you think about human nutrition and weight as a system, and if any consumption of calories above/below calorie utilization results in weight gain/loss, then it becomes very hard to maintain a stable state. For example, if you model the calories as a random walk around the stable point, then you'll drift one way or the other. It would be a very well-tuned system that adjusts hunger so precisely. So, I'd guess that the control mechanism would in somewhere in, for example, the efficacy of digestion.
I started this out saying it was the Stupid Question of the Day - I expect a nutritionist could set me straight with a pointer to a textbook chapter or the URL of a paper. I've just never seen this addressed anywhere.
ReplyIt's a well tuned system :-) In a healthy body anyway. In my experience we tend to eat to maintain our current weight.
The tuning CAN go out of whack as I found out recently when talking to Dr Wurtman about her research into serotonin at MIT.
In my limited experience with bulking diets, the first day or say of massively overeating was hard but then... omg... it becomes scarily easy to eat 3500 cals a day no problem!
I think people get used to eating a certain amount and your body then adjusts to handle that new input and almost demands it!
"The drift" is generally towards weight gain as we know--folks tend to gain weight as we age. I think this is partly due to occasional overeating on social occasions for example. A little is gained and then you continue to eat to maintain your current weight.
I don't think your body will waste anything by trying to maintain a stable weight. All excess will be stored. If you we're to eat that extra teaspoon of sugar and every other factor stayed the same, you would indeed gain the extra.
Of course, as you gain the extra, your "calories out" naturally get bigger as you need to expend more energy to carry that extra weight--the bigger you are the higher your metabolism tends to be--the oppposite of what is normally thought.
This is because the body not only stores fat but also muscle is built when you overeat by a number of hormonal adjustments. Overeating is anabolic.
I think getting into all the nitty-gritty is very interesting but for the weight loss seeker it's much simpler.
It's about carefully choosing a calorie target and planning a model day to match those calories and then repeating that every day til you hit your target weight.
Of course, as the weight is lost, so too, the target calories must reduce because you're aiming at a 500 cal reduction for 1lb per week roughly. As you lose weight, the calories you need to maintain your weight also reduces and so the target calories reduces.
This will prevent plateaus in weight loss. The body weight will stabilize to calories in. That's it.
If you eat like a 140lb person, you will become a 140lb person.
There is no range of calorie input at which your body weight will remain the same.
One thing that I've found really throws people is the fact that carbs are stored with 3 times the weight of water. So people who've been dieting and have an "off" day often gain back a load of weight but it's mainly water weight and conversly when you first start a diet, the first week often sees a drastic drop in weight which is also mainly water.
There's absolutely no doubt that the biochemistry is extremely complex. There's also no doubt that weight loss has to be really simple in application.
Target cals, model day, small regular feeds, log everything, exercise--slightly out of breath for 30 mins 5 times a week.
No range :-)
Cheers
ReplyMike.
Mike -
for some years my previously tiny body got fatter and fatter until my weight doubled.
I went to the doctor frequently - telling them I didn't eat much - and never junk food.
They all gave me diet sheets and obviously didn't believe me.
I went on an 800 calories a say diet for three months and exercised like a maniac every day.
Didn't lose an ounce.
I went to a new Doctor - and while there I collapsed with SERIOUSLY underactive thyroid problems.
She was so angry at the other doctors.
If they had done a simple blood test - it would have revealed I had a problem.
During my recovery - I told her I had just assumed my metabolsim had slowed down because of dieting and not eating much.
She rubbished this and said a metabolism slowing like that from dieting is a myth.
I believe her and trust her.
I've never read the 'diet induced slow metabolism' theory anywhere other than commercial magazines.
I know who I believe.
My weight is coming off now my hypo-thyroid is being treated - but I still have to exercise to shift it.
It's just like you say - expenditure versus intake.
ReplyI really, really, REALLY wish I could find the ONE thing causing me to be fat. I WISH it was a virus. I could get an inoculation and be cured. I WISH it was a chronic yeast infection. I WISH I could find the one reason, OTHER than the fact that:
ReplyI eat too much of the wrong foods and I don't exercise.
Obesity is a multi-factorial problem. Excess weight is an expression of a system out of whack, and the reasons for this are endless. YES, my parents are large, YES, I may have mommy issues, YES, I may have a virus, YES, I may be overrun with Candida...
but at the end of the day, I shove too many Hagen Daz bars into my face while watching weight loss shows on TV.
We probably will never know the "single cause" for obesity. No doubt, I have tons of "causes". The SIMPLEST one for me to control is what I eat and how I move. The rest, unfortunately, at this point is mere speculation...
WOW amazing. Really 1 week is enough to tell. I would have thought that a thyroid check would be the minimum requirement for someone who claims they eat very little and still gains weight.
Incidently, there's a test you can do yourself for thyroid by taking your temperature first thing in the morning on waking. I don't know how accurate it is but if you do the test and it's positive, you might want to insist on further investigations. (Not you Wendy, but anyone else who suspects thyroid :-))
I also read that the blood tests for thyroid can show a lot of false negatives. So, sometimes you can get the all clear for thyroid when actually, there is a problem.
For me, if I had a thyroid problem, I'd want to know why. Why did my thyroid stop working? What caused it? And what can I do about it? But I guess this is a whole other topic and probably a very complex one.
Cheers
ReplyMike.
Wow! This is a page of very angry x-rays, very skinny people. Overweight people are not newly hated, but it is now okay to openly hate people different that themselves.
ReplyI know overweight people who all their lives they have dieted, followed exercise plans. etc. Only to gain the weight back because calories must be continually reduces. Your body hits a plateau then converts the calories available into storage: fat. It thinks it is a "famine" mode and stores.
I think almost everything is possible; virus, lifestyle, frustration, hate. On NPR this morning, they stated that obesity is now the #1 disorder in the world. Not the USA, the world. Now the virus theory, as Dr. Atkins has stated, looks like an edpidemic, kind of like a virus. Maybe McDonald's is the virus, or tv or computers, but a virus seems very possible.
The virus causing obesity: the Shitfood virus. Shitfood has taken over our world and our bodies. There's also the Slack,man viruses. You get Slack,man then you get fat.
The only known cures are the Realfood vaccine along with Moveit treatment. These aren't anything new, but are found in nature, and have been making a comeback in response to this crisis.
Reply