Obesity Contagious? 840
An anonymous reader writes "University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have found that certain human viruses may cause obesity, and by extension make being severely overweight a contagious condition. 'It makes people feel more comfortable to think that obesity stems from lack of control,' the lead researcher says. 'It's a big mental leap to think you can catch obesity.' But other diseases once chalked up to environmental factors, like stomach ulcers, are now known to stem from infectious agents."
Many comments fit researchers' prediction (Score:3, Informative)
The point is the idea that obesity might not be something that you control really is frightening to us.
I don't have time.. (Score:1, Informative)
Re:People are Obese regarless of Income or Geograp (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Obesity comes from a simple condition... (Score:5, Informative)
For people without a medical condition that causes obesity, it is possible to take in fewer calories and run off of fat instead. But there are a number of medical conditions which can interfere with this process, which depends on a non-trivial cascade of signals between different organs (something has to detect that your blood sugar is low; it has to release a hormone in response; the fat cells have to respond to this hormone; they have to produce sugar from fat; the fat cells have to stop pulling sugar out of the bloodstream and storing the energy). This research found that some people are obese because of a particular virus. Of course, most of the people they looked at probably just eat too much, but not everybody.
Re:Viruses cannot cause obesity (Score:4, Informative)
Second, you can eat 3,000 kcal a day and still lose weight: exercising uses calories.
Third, whether or not you experience ill effects from your personal dieting strategy depends on genetic history, such as hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, etc.
Re:Common viruses to look out for... (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps because the linked article was a blog...
Study on rhesus monkeys and marmosets. [nutrition.org]
"In study 1, we observed spontaneously occurring Ad-36 antibodies in 15 male rhesus monkeys, and a significant longitudinal association of positive antibody status with weight gain and plasma cholesterol lowering during the 18 mo after viral antibody appearance. In study 2, which was a randomized controlled experiment, three male marmosets inoculated with Ad-36 had a threefold body weight gain, a greater fat gain and lower serum cholesterol relative to baseline (P 0.05) than three uninfected controls at 28 wk postinoculation. These studies illustrate that the adiposity-promoting effect of Ad-36 occurs in two nonhuman primate species and demonstrates the usefulness of nonhuman primates for further evaluation of Ad-36-induced adiposity."
Re:Peter Griffin on Wisconsin (Score:3, Informative)
Which one are you discussing?
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Evan
Re:Virus or no (Score:3, Informative)
As an agnostic myself, I don't see why the mere mention of God should trigger you to go into attack mode. The man's religion is not the issue.
The other thing that bothers me greatly about your post, is the usual socialist statement to make government protect you by using force to make someone else responsible: in your case restaurants and caloric counts, guess what? it doesn't work either: you can still pig out on a triple hamburger and triple fries at 2000 calories a meal if you know how much it's in there...
Dude, there's socialism and then there's Socialism. The guy isn't exactly quoting Marx, here. Putting a calorie count on a menu helps people make the right decisions. If they don't want to pay attention, that's their own problem. The responsibility is still theirs. If you don't see the value to society in helping overweight people lose their excess weight, you haven't thought hard enough. Ever notice the column on your paystub that says "Social Security?" Ever wished that number could be reduced?
Personally, I don't feel this is something that should be mandated, because going to restaurants is somewhat of a luxury in my opinion. But the concept is good, and none of this has anything to do with socialism.
Do you reprint all your menus every time you switch from Brand A (10 calories/serving) to Brand B (11 calories/serving).
Companies have to do this already with packaged foods. And I think that's a good thing.
Europeans just as fat... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Peter Griffin on Wisconsin (Score:2, Informative)
Careful which Pounds You Measure (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Doubtful and absurd: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Conservation of energy revoked? (Score:2, Informative)
The amount of energy needed to pack on pounds is relatively little on a day to day basis, even less than a hundred calories over our needs per day will eventually cause obesity. There are other endocrine disorders, amongst them Cushing's Syndrome [wikipedia.org] where reduction of caloric intake and excersize may have little impact on weight loss. On a recent episode of Diagnosis Unknown on Discovery Health, one woman who suffered from this condition ate only chicken breasts and broccoli while hitting the gym for several hours a day, continuing to gain weight. This should show that diet and exercise does not always work and the body's other mechanisms may be effected causing fat to be stored even when it should be used for energy.
This article gives me new reason not to make out with fat chicks.
MSG (Score:4, Informative)
It's not that hard.. glutamate is naturally present in many foods such as parmesan cheese, asparagus, peas, and tomatoes, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) is simply a form of glutamate that's easy to package and cook with. According to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], MSG was first discovered in crystals left behind after evaporating kombu broth, which is a common Japanese soup stock [seaweed.net] made by heating seaweed in water. Making MSG in your own kitchen is probably easier than making baking soda, sugar, table salt, and many other basic ingredients.