The U.S
Department of Health and Human Services in their NIH Publication prefers to
measure obesity using Body Mass Index (BMI); a practicable approach based on
height and weight calculation. Using BMI an obese person is defined as one
who’s BMI is equal to or above 30. This accumulation of excessive fat
presenting a health risk is obviously known to be caused by eating more and
exercising less. The obvious conclusion has for years overlooked a possible
origin of human obesity via infectious agent. A certain strain of a cold virus
Human Adenovirus AD-36 has now been
shown to promote visceral obesity and a reduction of serum lipids (Nikhil 1). AD
– 36 Is among a family of about 50 viruses that cause such complications as eye
inflammations, infections to upper respiratory organs, gastrointestinal
problems and most commonly common colds.
Childhood
Obesity and Cold Virus
AD-36 was first isolated from child
feces in 1978 in Germany (Reynolds 1).The virus has shown a new side effect in
mice and chickens under study in form of increase in adipose tissue. Subsequent study involving 500 volunteers
showed presence of AD-36 in 30 percent of volunteers with obesity versus 11
percent in those without obesity (Reynolds 1). More conclusive studies were
carried out on 89 twins later and it was found out that twins with AD-36
antibodies were more likely to become obese than their twin siblings without
AD-36 antibodies. Another study directed by Nick (34) at the weight program at
Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego involved 124 children ages 8 to 18 years
with 67 obese and 57 normal. From previous analysis, more than 20 percent of
obese children produced AD-36 positive results, another 7 percent of non obese
kids had AD-36 testing positive. Of the 19 children with AD-36 antibodies, 15
were obese. From these outcomes it therefore becomes most likely that a person
with AD-36 can become obese and thus AD-36 can be defined as a possible cause
of obesity (Dhurandhar 2795). The conclusion reached is an inductive one. In the first premise, 22% of the children
with AD-36 virus had obesity. The second premise is the fact that 7% of the
children that had the AD-36 virus were not obese. It is therefore not very
representative to say that the virus actually causes obesity
I agree with the stated fact that the AD-36
virus causes obesity. In 2001 a group of scientists coined out a term
“infectobesity” i.e. obesity of an infectious origin (Reynolds 1). This was largely due to the fact that the
mechanism of AD-36 leading to obesity appeared to genetically direct the host
cells of a human to turn on lipogenic (fat-producing) enzymes thus the
productions of new fat cells. This turns into fat tissues existing cells. In a
certain study, infection of adult stem cells from fat tissue cells with AD-36
transformed them into fat cells while unexposed stem cells remain unchanged
(Atkinson 42). Samples of stem cells have been accumulated after they were
taken from various liposuction victims. With half the cells being exposed to AD-36
and the other half kept un-infected. A week of being kept in tissue culture
showed that the infected stem cells became fat cells while the un-infected
cells remained as they were. Magdalena Pasarica, M.D., Ph.D., from Pennington
Biomedical Research Center is not dismissing the possibility of virus in humans
that might result in obesity. The tissue culture experiment provided immense
evidence of the contribution of AD-36 to obesity.
Conclusion
AD-36 is certainly not the sole
cause of obesity but conclusive evidence shows that infection by AD-36 virus almost
certainly leads to obesity. This cold virus strain can therefore be linked to
obesity. However, the conclusion reached is an inductive one. The reason is
that while it is true that 22% of the children with AD-36 virus had obesity,
the remaining ones still had no obesity. In addition, 7% of the children had
the AD-36 virus but were not obese. It is therefore not very representative to
say that the virus actually causes obesity.
Works Cited
Atkinson,
Richard. Could viruses contribute to the worldwide epidemic of obesity?
International Journal of
Pediatric Obesity. (2008): 37-43.
Dhurandhar,
Neil. Infectobesity: obesity of infectious origin. Journal of Nutrition.
(2001)
131:2794-2797.
Nick,
Kolakowski. The Obesity Virus. 2005,
January. November 4, 2010.
http://docnews.diabetesjournals.org/content/2/1/13.full
Nikhil, Dhurandhar et. al,
Nutritional Immunology. The Journal of
Nutrition (2002): 3155-
3158.
Reynolds,
Kelly. Infectobesity’: Can Water Borne
Viruses Cause Excessive Weight
Gain. New York: Routledge Publishers, 2010.
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