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Infectobesity: catching obesity from a cold virus?

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  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    xmichaelyx wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    Just what we need, another excuse.

    I don't think that's a useful way to look at the world at all. Something is either true or it isn't. Not liking the way you'd interpret something doesn't make it not true.

    No, evidence makes something true. The evidence for this is so weak that even the authors of the articles themselves don't claim it's true, just that there is some correlation in the data and more study is warranted.

    I agree that all of the available evidence points to this not being true.

    Which is a shame. It'd be great if people could go to the doctor and get an antibiotic for being fat, and then never have to worry think it again. Sadly, that's not an option, instead people have to use hard work and determination, which actually pay off.
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,245 Member
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    While I agree that the majority of obesity is caused by overeating and inactivity, there is scientific evidence to support genetic or medical factors where obesity is a symptom or result of a physical condition or abnormality, such as pituitary tumors or brain damage. These are rare occurrences, but not so rare as to not be documented and studied by the medical community.

    I recall watching a program about a decade ago featuring a young woman who began to gain weight in her 20's. Despite dieting and exercise she continued to gain into obesity. Her family and friends all thought she had a secret eating disorder, which she denied. Eventually, medical testing revealed that she had a pituitary tumor. The only symptom was her weight gain. Following surgery to remove the tumor her weight rather quickly returned to normal.

    I appreciate the OP bringing forward something for discussion that may be worthy of further study. Not all humans are created equal with perfectly functioning endocrine systems, and not all weight gain or loss is as simple as CICO. Could there be a virus that contributes to obesity? Sounds like the possibility warrants further study and not ridicule.

    Here's a summary article about pediatric obesity related to injury/damage to the hypothalmus. The source is Robert H. Lustig, M.D., Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco

    https://pituitary.org/medical-resources/pavilions/pediatric-health/pediatric-health-archive/hypothalamic-obesity
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,484 Member
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    Dang! Or words similar that would get a kitten.

    I wanted the jab so I could experience what it was like to eat and drink 6000 cals in one sitting.

    I would probably explode anyway- ah well. h.
  • abrubru
    abrubru Posts: 137 Member
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    Macy9336 wrote: »
    Here's a really outlandish thought. In a sci-if series of books about a world called Helliconia, the planet had a year of a few thousand years. The winters were like our Ice Ages, and the summers like our current day Equator. What happened in the books as the world approached winter, the "Fat Sickness" would appear and it would make survivors gain weight and thus appear grotesquely fat (to the slim sumner people) and as the world approached spring, the "starving sickness" would strike resulting in the survivors losing weight and appearing to be walking skeletons ( to the heavier winter people). The author wrote it as a natural adaptation to prepare the human populations for the upcoming winter by adding body mass and insulating fat and then shedding the weight and fat to adapt the humans for the summer. Since the year was thousands of years, there'd be generations where the humans would all be fat whilst it was cold and then generations of being thin whilst the world was hot. Now our world, Earth, is due anytime for its next Ice Age...it's been 26,000 years..and mysteriously an obesity virus has appeared out of nowhere...we have an obesity epidemic going on. I've often wondered how in the heck did humans survive the last Ice Ages? Why are the Ice Age era 30,000 yr old carvings of women all hugely obese "Venus" figurines?.....

    I am a big fan of Sci-fi, but the basic science behind this concept is wrong...we are on a warming trend from Earth's last ice age, not the opposite. Also, this scenario would result in speciation. Punctuated equilibrium might explain the rapid change in human builds over a few generations, but not a virus.

    NPR did a story on this virus. It did not--in and of itself--cause obesity, but as another respondent stated, it caused a metabolic imbalance that led to obesity. The Secret Life of Fat has some very interesting case studies about fat related disorders if anyone is looking for a scientific read.
  • Macy9336
    Macy9336 Posts: 694 Member
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    abrubru wrote: »
    Macy9336 wrote: »
    Here's a really outlandish thought. In a sci-if series of books about a world called Helliconia, the planet had a year of a few thousand years. The winters were like our Ice Ages, and the summers like our current day Equator. What happened in the books as the world approached winter, the "Fat Sickness" would appear and it would make survivors gain weight and thus appear grotesquely fat (to the slim sumner people) and as the world approached spring, the "starving sickness" would strike resulting in the survivors losing weight and appearing to be walking skeletons ( to the heavier winter people). The author wrote it as a natural adaptation to prepare the human populations for the upcoming winter by adding body mass and insulating fat and then shedding the weight and fat to adapt the humans for the summer. Since the year was thousands of years, there'd be generations where the humans would all be fat whilst it was cold and then generations of being thin whilst the world was hot. Now our world, Earth, is due anytime for its next Ice Age...it's been 26,000 years..and mysteriously an obesity virus has appeared out of nowhere...we have an obesity epidemic going on. I've often wondered how in the heck did humans survive the last Ice Ages? Why are the Ice Age era 30,000 yr old carvings of women all hugely obese "Venus" figurines?.....

    I am a big fan of Sci-fi, but the basic science behind this concept is wrong...we are on a warming trend from Earth's last ice age, not the opposite. Also, this scenario would result in speciation. Punctuated equilibrium might explain the rapid change in human builds over a few generations, but not a virus.

    NPR did a story on this virus. It did not--in and of itself--cause obesity, but as another respondent stated, it caused a metabolic imbalance that led to obesity. The Secret Life of Fat has some very interesting case studies about fat related disorders if anyone is looking for a scientific read.

    To my mind the mechanisms in your body that an infectious agent disrupts to cause a health problem doesn't mean the virus doesn't cause said health problem. For example cervical cancer is composed of the body's own cells that are growing out of control due to endocrine disruption...caused in some cases by a HPV virus. Yet we don't sit here and so, nah the virus didn't cause the cancer, it's endocrine disruption that caused it. So with this obesity virus...the virus causes metabolic changes and causes stem cells to become fat cells which then results in more, fatter fat cells...the virus still kicked it all off.
  • Macy9336
    Macy9336 Posts: 694 Member
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    My mentioning of the sci fi series Helliconia was a tongue in cheek mention to illustrate that I feel like with the obesity virus studies we are stepping into a sci fi situation/tv show. I wasn't seriously suggesting that a sci fi scenarios could actually be happening. Lol. Didn't mean to make anyone think I'd completely fallen off a turnip wagon and hit my head.
  • Macy9336
    Macy9336 Posts: 694 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your comments. It appears the majority believe obesity is only caused by overeating which is no surprise at all. Thank you especially to RaeBeeBaby who highlighted that medical conditions do exist that cause obesity (pituitary gland tumour). The authors are doing additional animal studies as are scientists worldwide...they can't test this on humans due to ethics. Also to answer questions, the virus is fought off by the body but the damage is already done to the victims body and is irreversible. The victim then starts to gradually gain weight and over time become obese. They don't think it is the cause of all obesity. I read an estimate of 15%. But then back in the day "the cancer" was viewed as a single disease and now it's perfectly accepted that cancer has multiple causes and is in fact now divided up by body part "lung cancer" "rectal cancer" "brain cancer" etc etc to show that there are cancers plural rather than "the cancer". I'm not fully convinced either about an obesity virus but we already know obesity has multiple causes...genetic links are also being studied and there are several medical conditions that can cause obesity (Cushings, PCOS, thyroid, pituitary). So I am rather open minded when it comes to the possibility that an infectious agent could be causing some obesity cases. I do know for me, that after reading up on obesity causes, I am less judgemental of obese people because there are medical one can never know exactly what is going on in their bodies. This doesn't mean I am all Fat Acceptance...I'm not as I think it's unhealthy.
  • goodkoalie
    goodkoalie Posts: 84 Member
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    It still comes down to CICO. Some medical conditions may cause the CO to lower, leading to weight gain, but obesity is still caused by eating over the amount of calories being burned.
  • crackpotbaby
    crackpotbaby Posts: 1,297 Member
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    goodkoalie wrote: »
    It still comes down to CICO. Some medical conditions may cause the CO to lower, leading to weight gain, but obesity is still caused by eating over the amount of calories being burned.

    Sure. That's the math but not the point.

    When the CO is lowered to a point where taking a reasonably calculated formulaic CI is excess to an individual's needs (even a slight reduction in metabolic rate will have a cumulative effect over time) then that person can hardly be 'blamed' for gaining weight.

    ... which is essentially what happens when people state 'you were obviously eating too much or more than you think'.

    Below is a graph which shows my own rapid weight gain (10kg over 7 month or so when put on a medication that affected my CO; I still ate the same type of diet but was actively trying to reduce CI).

    Not an infection, but certainly a complicating factor to weight maintenance.

    ii8xr9db5iec.jpg



  • kristikitter
    kristikitter Posts: 602 Member
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    Macy9336 wrote: »
    Here's a really outlandish thought. In a sci-if series of books about a world called Helliconia, the planet had a year of a few thousand years. The winters were like our Ice Ages, and the summers like our current day Equator. What happened in the books as the world approached winter, the "Fat Sickness" would appear and it would make survivors gain weight and thus appear grotesquely fat (to the slim sumner people) and as the world approached spring, the "starving sickness" would strike resulting in the survivors losing weight and appearing to be walking skeletons ( to the heavier winter people). The author wrote it as a natural adaptation to prepare the human populations for the upcoming winter by adding body mass and insulating fat and then shedding the weight and fat to adapt the humans for the summer. Since the year was thousands of years, there'd be generations where the humans would all be fat whilst it was cold and then generations of being thin whilst the world was hot. Now our world, Earth, is due anytime for its next Ice Age...it's been 26,000 years..and mysteriously an obesity virus has appeared out of nowhere...we have an obesity epidemic going on. I've often wondered how in the heck did humans survive the last Ice Ages? Why are the Ice Age era 30,000 yr old carvings of women all hugely obese "Venus" figurines?.....

    Have you SEEN the tremendous amount of cr*p available to eat, 24/7? All the super-size sodas, burgers, fries, king-size chocolate bars, multipacks of chocolate Easter eggs available from January, sugary cereals...?

    Obesity doesn't 'come from nowhere'.
  • goodkoalie
    goodkoalie Posts: 84 Member
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    lizery wrote: »
    goodkoalie wrote: »
    It still comes down to CICO. Some medical conditions may cause the CO to lower, leading to weight gain, but obesity is still caused by eating over the amount of calories being burned.

    Sure. That's the math but not the point.

    When the CO is lowered to a point where taking a reasonably calculated formulaic CI is excess to an individual's needs (even a slight reduction in metabolic rate will have a cumulative effect over time) then that person can hardly be 'blamed' for gaining weight.

    ... which is essentially what happens when people state 'you were obviously eating too much or more than you think'.

    Below is a graph which shows my own rapid weight gain (10kg over 7 month or so when put on a medication that affected my CO; I still ate the same type of diet but was actively trying to reduce CI).

    Not an infection, but certainly a complicating factor to weight maintenance.

    ii8xr9db5iec.jpg


    Ah I understand where you are coming from. Thank you for clearing it up.

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