Is Obesity Contagious?

I had seen this article last week about how studies have been conducted that claim a virus may be one of the causes of obesity and that obesity could be spread and caught much like the common cold and other viruses.

The study, which was led by Professor Nikhil Dhurandhar, of Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana, showed that the AD-36 virus may increase weight gain without someone eating any additional food. The virus attaches itself to organs and supposedly multiplies fat (which would make it pretty difficult to lose body fat no mater what type of diet you may be on.

And, since it IS a virus, it also means it is contagious – and can be spread pretty quickly if people are not careful about hand washing and other germ spreading prevention methods.

It’s a very interesting theory that obesity may be contagious. If future studies do indeed show more evidence of a virus causing people to be overweight there will be new things to consider: How to diagnose the virus in someone and finding a cure to stop the virus.

Most importantly though, it should be stressed that just because a virus may be one cause of obesity, it is not the ONLY cause of obesity. Being overweight for many can be controlled and prevented through eating healthy and exercise.

What do you think? Could it really be possible that a virus could be causing someone to gain weight? Would you want to find out if you’ve ever had the virus?

Category: Health