I'm Obese, I Have A Virus!

I couldn't resist that title. For the last 10 days, I have been so sick with a virulent nasty virus and this is the first time I've felt well enough to sit at the computer and focus a few thoughts. My TB found a fascinating entry in Science Blog called Contagious obesity? Identifying the human adenoviruses that may make us fat. My first reaction was to laugh, which set off a painful coughing spasm. On TV, anchors said people ought to be careful to wash their hands so that they didn't become obese. Still incredulous, I went and read the article.


I don't know about this one. I've read it twice and I have a gajillion questions. When there weren't so many of us fat folks, people generally believed you got fat from being lazy and not eating enough. Over the years, we've learned much about metabolism and fat genes and people have been getting bigger and bigger. Now that we've reached epidemic proportions isn't it "better" to say hey, I'm fat because I caught a virus? What about lack of exercise? What about "super size me"?

"It makes people feel more comfortable to think that obesity stems from lack of control..."

Um, no, not if you're the fat one. If you're the fat one you can beat yourself up pretty good because of not using more "control". It's a whole lot easier to say, "I can't help it, I was made this way" (gene) or "I can't help it, I'm sick" (virus).


Why are so many of us fat and getting fatter? I always thought it had to do with our couch potato mentality. Let's face it, we really have changed over the last 30 years or so. When I was a kid and even a young adult, I didn't spend nearly so much time sitting as I have in the last 20 years. I played outside until it got dark as a kid. I was on several different bowling leagues and swam as a young adult. And then came... "Pong". Yes, that first video game. We all sat there for a couple of hours at a time, mesmerized. Or we'd get heavily into "Space Invaders".


Add to the lack of activity, the "super size me" mentality of the fast food restaurants--and nearly all other eateries. Bingo, there you go, fat adults and kids.


Now this:

The theory that viruses could play a part in obesity began a few decades ago when Nikhil Dhurandhar, now at Pennington Biomedical Research Center at LSU, noticed that chickens in India infected with the avian adenovirus SMAM-1 had significantly more fat than non-infected chickens. The discovery was intriguing because the explosion of human obesity, even in poor countries, has led to suspicions that overeating and lack of exercise weren't the only culprits in the rapidly widening human girth. Since then, Ad-36 has been found to be more prevalent in obese humans.


...

There is still much to learn about how these viruses work, Whigham said. "There are people and animals that get infected and don't get fat. We don't know why," she said. Among the possibilities: the virus hasn't been in the body long enough to produce the additional fat; or the virus creates a tendency to obesity that must be triggered by overeating, she said.

Could this be really true? Wow, bring on the vaccine...oh wait, that'll be years in the future.


So for now, the best way to avoid becoming fat and the best way to lose it is to eat healthy and sensibly and exercise!


This news story is all over the place. Just google on "fat virus" and see what comes up!