August 21, 2007

Cold virus causes obesity!

There has been a mention of this before, but this time researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Centre at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA, have now found the gene that it is believed to promote weight gain.

The virus adenovirus 36 (ad-36) has been for a long time connected to obesity, however the researchers used tissue samples from liposuction patients to carry out their tests. The virus is just one from a very large family which is also the infectious agent that causes around half of all common colds.

This virus can be found in around thirty per cent of those people who are considered to be obese, whereas in slimmer people the figure is reduced to only eleven per cent. But although there are similarities there is yet to be found any direct link to obesity.

Although the work continues to seek the connection and it is believed to be only a matter of time before the link can be established. What is will do is help scientists to develop proper weight loss drugs and possibly even anti viral vaccines. Could this be the beginning of the end for the common cold?

Source [The Scotsman]