Common virus may be to blame for some obesity

Too fat? Common virus may be to blame: study Reuters/Yahoo!News 8/20/07 "A common virus caused human adult stem cells to turn into fat cells and could explain why some people become obese...The research builds on prior studies of adenovirus-36 -- a common cause of respiratory and eye infections -- and it may lead to an obesity vaccine...The virus adenovirus-36 or Ad-36, caused animals to pack on the pounds in lab experiments. "These animals accumulated a lot of fat," ...Dhurandhar also has shown that obese people were three times more likely to have been infected with Ad-36 than thin people in a large study of humans...researchers in Dhurandhar's lab have shown that exposure to the virus caused adult human stem cells to turn into fat-storing cells..."The virus appears to change their commitment to a fat storing cell," Dhurandhar said, adding that Ad-36 is just one of 10 pathogens linked to obesity and that more may be out there..."

The term used to describe this is infectobesity.

MicrobiologyBytes lists some of the first pathogens linked to obesity.

There are also other environmental factors linked to obesity, such as chemicals.

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Capsaicin might halt fight formation

Capsaicin, a Compound in Hot Red Peppers, May Halt Fat Formation WebMD 3/6/07 "Capsaicin, the fiery compound in hot red peppers, may make fledging fat cells self-destruct...But don’t drown your dinner in hot pepper sauce just yet. So far, the Taiwanese team has only pitted capsaicin against fat cells in test tubes, not people...focused on cells called preadipocytes, which develop into fat cells...First, they brewed a capsaicin extract in their lab. Then, they marinated preadipocytes from mice in the capsaicin extract for eight days, freshening the capsaicin extract every other day. The preadipocytes exposed to capsaicin died before becoming fat cells..."

Doesn't hurt to try. Actually capsaicin has shown other health benefits like fighting cancer. But considerably more research will be needed on capsaicin, to state the obvious.

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