Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Being Fat Is Contagious

Fat people water fountains, skinny people water fountains. It's to the back of the bus for fat people. No longer a smoking and non-smoking section, now it is the fat and skinny section- no need to ask for a seating preference. That is what new research could lead to as it proclaims that a cold virus could be responsible for some people's obesity. The adenovirus-36 (Ad 36) has been implicated in causing obesity; this has already been shown in animals. What is more is that it is contagious and spread like any other cold virus.

You can read more here.

Some questions:
-If Ad 36 is shown to be a big contributor to obesity, how long do you think it will be before drug companies start marketing weight loss drugs based on fighting the effects of Ad 36?
-Do you think that something like this could bring about new work-related policies concerning coming in while you are sick?
-Will you be more apt to avoid those with colds?

1 comment:

B Nettles said...

Personally, I'm not worried about becoming obese because of AD-36 exposure. The article didn't say it, but it would seem to be a fairly common virus. I'll avoid people with colds because I don't want a cold!

Only 1/3 of the obese people tested had the virus. Hmmm.

10% of non-obese people were infected.

Maybe the virus hangs around longer, or is "viral" in obese people.

I didn't see any mention of adult stem cells taken from non-obese people, or placental stem cells being infected with the virus. I'm a little suspect of the extent of the experiment since the control cells were from obese people. They might have a predisposition to responding to AD-36 infection and cell transformation due to some other factor.