Obesity

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Cold Virus

62.     New research at Louisiana State University has found that when human stem cells, the blank slate of the cell world, are exposed to a common virus, called “adenovirus-36” from a family of viruses that cause colds and pink eyes in people, they turned into fat cells. They did not just change, they stored fat too. While this may be a guilt-free explanation for putting on kilos, it does not explain the growing obesity problem fully. But it adds to other recent evidence that blames expanding waistlines in only a few cases on more than just super-sized appetites and underused muscles.

 Friendly Virus!

63.     After a research study spanning three decades, researchers at Harvard Medical School found a very unusual, unbelievable cause of obesity – that obesity can spread from person to person, much like a virus. Close friends of obese persons tend to gain weight too. One explanation could be that friends affected each others’ perception of fatness. When close friend becomes obese, obesity may not look so bad. The study monitored the weight of 12,067 friends and relatives between 1971 and 2003 and found that if your friends are fat, your chances of being fat increase by 57%. Same sex friends and siblings had a greater influence than did those of the opposite sex

 Medications

64.     All medicines/drugs often have one or the other types of side-effects. But certain medications induce weight gain directly or indirectly. A recent example of the latter type is American addiction to sleeping pills. The most popular sleeping pill “ambien” had an unusual and funny side-effect on some people – causing them to indulge in bouts of nocturnal feasting without knowing a thing about it the next morning. In one instance, a woman put on 45 kg. weight. Another patient would eat in sleep, things like raw eggs, uncooked rice, potato chips, loaves of bread, candy etc. Artificial sweeteners tend to increase the appetite and result in weight gain too.