What is the fact and fiction of the obesity virus?
It never ceases to amaze me how the media is so quick to jump on any study that has the slightest ring of “sensational or controversial news” written all over it, or how quickly the public accepts media reports at face value without further investigation. Case in point: Look at how much national publicity was given this week to something as esoteric as an in vitro study about an obesity virus… petri-dish_virus.jpg Obesity viruses are not new news, as there have been 10 adipogenic pathogens reported in the scientific literature in the past two decades, including human and animal viruses, bacteria, and gut microflora. In this case, adenovirus-36 (AD-36) was named as a potential culprit. So far however, the theory of viruses causing human obesity is controversial and unproven, and the research has only been conducted in cell cultures and in chickens, rhesus monkeys, hamsters and rats. Read more go to
Human adenovirus 36 (HAdV-36) or AD-36 is one of 52 types of adenoviruses known to infect humans. AD-36 was first isolated in 1978 from the feces of a girl suffering from diabetes and enteritis, and has long been recognized as a cause of respiratory and eye infections in humans. It was first shown to be associated with obesity in chickens by Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar. There has been a positive correlation between body fat and the presence of AD-36 antibodies in the blood. Previous research showed that chicken or mice injected with similar types of viruses show a statistically significant weight gain. To date, AD-36 is the only human adenovirus that has been linked with human obesity, present in 30% of obese humans and 11% of nonobese humans. In addition, a study of obese Americans indicates that about 30% of the obese individuals and only 5% of non-obese individuals have antibodies to Ad-36. AD-36 also causes obesity in chickens, mice, rats, and monkeys. AD-36 infection can induce cellular
