You can’t make this stuff up.
There is a lot of good advice to help us avoid becoming obese, such as “Eat less,” and “Exercise.” But here’s a new and surprising piece of advice based on a promising area of obesity research: “Wash your hands.”
There is accumulating evidence that certain viruses may cause obesity, in essence making obesity contagious, according to Leah D. Whigham, the lead researcher in a new study, “Adipogenic potential of multiple human adenoviruses in vivo and in vitro in animals,” in the January issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology published by the American Physiological Society.
You can read more but three human adenoviruses, described here and here, were found to cause increases in body fat. Does this mean the viruses enable a greater food uptake? Better utilization of nutrients? Lowered metabolism? Check the articles for yourself.
Be forewarned a screening test and vaccine still a long way off.
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