Cold virus ’causes obesity’

Obesity could be partly due to a virus which causes respiratory infections, scientists have discovered.

In laboratory tests researchers from Pennington Biomedical Research Centre found that infection with human adenovirus-36 (Ad-36), known to be a cause of respiratory and eye infections in humans, changes adult stem cells obtained from fat tissue into fat cells.

Stem cells not exposed to the virus remained unchanged.

The results, presented at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, have led to hopes that a vaccine or antiviral medication could be developed to help fight viral obesity in the future.

“We’re not saying that a virus is the only cause of obesity, but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections,” said study presenter Dr Magdalena Pasarica.

“Not all infected people will develop obesity. We would ultimately like to identify the underlying factors that predispose some obese people to develop this virus and eventually find a way to treat it.”

An earlier study on humans conducted by the same research team found that 30 per cent of obese people were infected with the Ad-36 virus in comparison to 11 per cent of lean individuals.

The researchers are now working to identify the factors that predispose some people with the virus to develop obesity while others do not.

Government statistics have warned that 12 million adults and one million children could be obese by 2010 in the UK unless steps are taken to improve the nation’s health.