All About Obesity

While obesity help and facts are not strictly a part of cooking, the condition can be food related and a result of poor nutrition. So this website has been designed to deal with obesity, its causes and effects and, to some extent, its treatment.

Obesity is a big problem in the Western world. Many people are overweight because they eat the wrong food and fail to exercise enough. Changing to a healthier lifestyle can help most people to correct this, but some will also need medical treatment.

Those who succeed in losing weight will greatly reduce their risk of heart disease and diabetes. Even a small weight loss of as little as 5 kg can be of great benefit.

However overeating may be far from the entire story. The following article is from the Healthy Eating Club, which is a government sponsored organisation in Victoria, Australia.

The Fat Virus

New evidence has emerged suggesting that obesity may not be entirely the result of unfavourable eating habits and low physical activity levels. A recent study by a group at the University of Wisconsin, published in the International Journal of Obesity has reported that a virus may be a contributing factor to obesity.

The researchers inoculated chickens and mice with the virus, known as AD-36, resulting in excessive fat gain. Adiposity in the affected animals increased (in particular visceral fat, total fat and body weight), however serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels decreased. There was no evidence of damage to those parts of the brain that control energy balance in affected chickens; however more studies in mammals where much more is known about control of energy balance would be helpful.

Obese people may have antibodies to the virus as demonstrated in a sample of obese and lean people from New York. Antibodies were found in 20-60% of obese people compared to only 5% of lean people, and were also demonstrated in the chickens and mice used in this study.

The virus seems to work by affecting that part of the brain controlling energy expenditure, however this has not yet been established. The jury is still out as to whether this virus may be a contributing factor to obesity as further studies are needed to ascertain its role in mammals, in particular humans, and the means by which it is contracted and operates in the body.

Therefore, eating a nutritious and healthy diet, combined with regular physical activity remains, for the moment, the best way to avoid obesity or to maintain or reduce weight.