Could the Common Cold Contribute to Children’s Obesity?

Submitted by Rachel, class of 2012:

Can childhood obesity be linked to a common cold? A new study suggests it can. In September of 2010 Pediatrics released a publication explaining that children exposed to the adenovirus-36 (a common cold virus) are more likely to be obese than children who have no evidence of infection. Jeffrey Schwimmer, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of California, San Diego, and at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego led a study on the hypothesis. He found that out of the 67 obese children and 57 normal-weight children, 19 of them carried the antibodies for adenovirus-36. 15 of these children were obese and 4 of them were normal weight. (That means 22% of the obese kids had the antibodies compared to 7% of the normal weight kids.) Additionally, the obese children with evidence of AD36 prior infection were 35 pounds fatter than the other obese children.
In a previous study chicken, mice, rats and monkeys with the infection all got fat even though they didn’t eat more or exercise less than they did before infection with AD36.
Now, why is this? Another experiment on human cells explains that the virus promotes weight gain and the adult infected stem cells make more fat cells, which store more fat.
The same correlation can be found among adults. Around 30% of obese adults carry antibodies for AD36, compared to 10% of normal-weight people.
This study isn’t to say that AD36 causes obesity. Rather, there may be a correlation between the two.
So, stay healthy this flu season!
For more information: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63507/title/

Image source: http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/01/can-you-catch-obesity-like-a-cold/