[alcimedes]

Chickens inoculated with Ad-37 had much more visceral fat and body fat compared with the chickens infected with Ad-2, Ad-31 or the control group, even though they didn't eat any more. The Ad-37 group was also generally heavier compared to the other three groups, but the difference wasn't great enough to be significant by scientific standards. The authors concluded that Ad-37 increases obesity in chickens, but Ad-2 and Ad-31 do not. "Ad-37 is the third human adenovirus to increase adiposity in animals, but not all adenoviruses produce obesity," the study concluded.

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/conta...ke_us_fat_9901

So, legitimate scientific findings or cop out for people who don't want to eat right and exercise? I must admit that the rise of obesity world over points to something beyond marketing and bad diets in the US.

I must admit I've always been in the camp of people who think that if you're overweight, 99 times out of 100 it's something you could change if you wanted to, but this makes me wonder.

[Wrao]

Is obesity rising world-over? I was under the impression it was mostly a US thing. I'm fairly out of the loop when it comes to obesity, I'm in shape.

[Linus van Pelt]

As a student of microbiology, i am not going rule anything out. Human metabolism is quite complicated and on top of that, microorganisms do some pretty incredible things and can be virtually undetectable.

I am however, just a little skeptical about the implications here. Whatever the case may be, the basic concept of metabolism stays the same (i would think). Through catabolism we break down complex molecules and through anabolism we build up complex molecules. There still is an underlying problem of over-consumption. Yes i am sure the virus hijacks certain metabolic functions (thats what viruses do), but there must be conservation of energy. A virus cannot just make high energy compounds out of thin air. What we put in needs to equal what we put out.

Again this is just me thinking out loud, but it just sounds like it might make people more prone to store as fat. The article said that the infected chickens didn't eat more, so does this mean that their behavior changed? If the chickens were less active, would we have people saying they caught a virus that makes them not want to exercise to try getting out of grade school P.E classes?

My point is, metabolisms vary greatly. If something causes someone's metabolism to store compounds as fat they should eat less or exercise more. The people that "naturally" have slow metabolisms aren't getting a free pass. Live within your boundaries.

"Its not my fault" doesn't sit right with me....but like i said before, i am not ruling anything out just yet.

[Windowsrookie]

NO! Back Away!!!! I don't want to catch the fat, Vito!

[alcimedes]

The most interesting part I saw was that the one group of chickens had a much higher percentage of body fat, but they all weighed about the same.

Sounds like it kept them producing fat when they normally would have been producing muscle. It would be interesting to see what human trials would do, although I'm not sure who would be willing to get infected with the "fat person" virus.

[billybobsky]

It is probably a result of the virus integrating itself into and disabling a regulatory protein that causes one to store excess calories as fat rather than as glycogen -- which is stored in muscles and the liver.

[Phoenix]

I was a fat kid growing up. Pretty damn fat actually. It's really a choice. I chose to be that way. And i chose to change. Yeah it's hard, but there's not a person on the planet who can't do it if they're motivated.

There are things that make it harder in people, but everyone can lose weight if they want. I hate it when people make excuses about being fat, right when there sitting there in front of you chewing on a quarter pounder.

Toughen up, eat right, exercise (even just a little bit), and you can lose weight.