Could Obesity Be Caused by a Virus?

by WiredBerries Editors — November 27, 2007

There was a lot of hoopla surrounding the controversial suggestion that obesity is "socially contagious" made by Harvard and University of California, San Diego researchers earlier this year. According to this earlier study , if someone's friend becomes obese, for example, that individual's chances of becoming obese went up by 57% percent. Among mutual friends, the effect increased up to 171%. The study was the first of it's kind, and appeared to show a strong correlation between our friend's waistlines and what we personally find to be a socially acceptable size.

But what if fat wasn't just "socially" contagious in the form of attitudes and opinions? What if you could literally be infected with a "fat" virus? Researcher Nikhal Dhurandhar identified a virus several years ago that caused chickens to get fatter than uninfected poultry. Since then, researchers have found that a family of related viruses may also be doing the same thing in humans!

Dhurandhar later teamed up with Dr. Richard Atkinson, president of the American Obesity Association, to expand the research, particularly to take a look at how the virus affected humans. The two identified the "fat virus" as adenovirus Ad-36, one of 50 similar viruses that are commonly found in humans. Based on his research, Atkinson now believes these viruses plays a role in human obesity. This discovery is especially intriguing because the explosion of human obesity, in both developed and poor nations, has led to quite a bit of suspicion that overeating and inactive lifestyles can't account for the world's phenomenal obesity explosion in such a relatively short amount of time.

Earlier this year, researchers in Dhurandhar's lab found that exposure to the virus actually caused adult human stem cells to turn into fat-storing cells. Dr. Magdalena Pasarica, who led the study, obtained adult stem cells from fat tissue of people who had undergone liposuction. Half of the stem cells were exposed to the virus Ad-36. After a week, almost all of the infected stem cells had developed into fat cells, while the uninfected cells were unchanged.

Interestingly, it is scientifically feasible that fat is literally somewhat contagious. It is quite possible that Ad-36 and similar viruses contribute to the number on our bathroom scales. In the future, dieticians may well include "wash your hands" along with their standard "eat right, and exercise" advice. Further research will likely shed more light on the subject.