Coz Being Ageless Is Priceless

Germs can make you fat!

July 7, 2010

That’s a strong statement! Well, it’s only one of the possible reasons behind getting fat besides overeating and being lazy (c’mon, let’s call a spade a spade rather using the PC term, sedentary lifestyle). According to studies, germs such as viruses and bacteria could actually make you gain weight. One study implicated the role of viruses in causing obesity, thus making it contagious. This study was mentioned in the January 2006 issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, published by the American Physiology Society. Another study done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that the human adenovirus Ad-37 causes obesity in chicken. Then, there’s another study mentioned in an article on Newsweek magazine. This time, it’s a “bacteria-made-me-fat” idea that Jeffrey Gordon and colleagues of Washington University reported in Nature magazine stating that obese and slim mice have different populations of gut bacteria. These germs are the “fat-causing” Firmicutes and the “slimming” Bacteroidetes. The article mentions how each of these bacteria can also be found in humans causing a person to lose weight or gain weight, depending on which one is the predominant gut bacteria. Interesting, huh? Anyway, this is still a relatively new concept behind (an infectious source) the causes of obesity. If you think about it however, 15-20 years ago, people would never think of an infectious cause of ulcers (H. pylori) but now, it’s a well-accepted fact. Same thing with C. sanguineum causing calcifications and other organisms causing “non-infectious” diseases. Anyway, as one researcher put it succinctly, “Eat right, exercise, wash you hands.” I toast to that!

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