Nothing to sneeze at: Common cold virus may make kids fat

Nothing to sneeze at: Common cold virus may make kids fat

www.msnbc.msn.com

A common virus may be one of the causes of the troubling obesity epidemic in American children, a new study shows.

University of California, San Diego researchers found that obese children were far more likely to have antibodies to a specific strain of adenovirus than normal weight children, according to the report published early online in Pediatrics. Children who showed signs of infection with adenovirus 36 (AD36), a common cause of some colds and eye infections, were an average of 50 pounds heavier than those who had no antibodies to the virus.

“This shows that body weight regulat

(visit the link for the full news article)

This has got to be one of the most ridiculous things I have read in the headlines for a LONG time. I can't believe this was even published!!

I predict that now in the next few months a drug company will come out with the proclamation of having a vaccine to the virus that is making our kids fat! (the same one the paid for this 'study'?) NO!!! The 'experts' say, it isn't because they are sitting in front of the tv, playing video games, eating crap fill with HCS without any form of excercise. It's because they got a cold virus!!!!! THAT'S it!!! Oh please......

The most disturbing part of this are the numbers used for this 'study'. What a joke. Check out this snippet from the article:

"Schwimmer and his colleagues tested 124 children, ages 8 to 18, for antibodies to AD36. Slightly more than half of the children, 67, were obese, while the other 57 were normal weight.

Antibodies to AD36 were found in 15 of the obese children and 4 of those with normal weight. The virus appeared to have a particularly pronounced effect among the heavy children: those who were positive for AD36 weighed an average of 35 pounds more than other obese kids who didn't have the antibodies."


SO....out of the MILLIONS of kids in the U.S., they are making this radical claim based on the results from 67 obese kids, of which 15 had increased antibodies to this virus.

Let's break that down again:

This article is making the outrageous claim that a certain cold virus may be the cause for increased obesity in US children based on the raised antibody levels in 15 obese kids!!!!

Like I said...stay tuned for a new cold virus vaccine to come to a pharmacy near you....


www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

You got a problem with science?

How odd...

What makes kids fat in america are there lazy parents that dont make them play outside. instead they stay inside all day after school, do homework and play video games! GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY SOME TAG FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

dont blam it on vireses. people love to find other things to blam it on then them selfs

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Actually, no I don't have a problem at all with science. The problem here is that I don't see anything scientific about this. To take such a small group with such small results and try to apply it to the whole pediatric population of the US is NOT (imo) scientific.

This is yet another weak attempt at giving us parents an excuse for our failures so we will ignore the real reasons and the true causes. It is a distraction, one that I hope won't work.

No what makes kids fat is when their parents load them up on sugar soda, a "mcdonalds" diet....and then throw in video games where they sit on their every growing butts all day.


Sorry but I don't buy into excuses.

Irresponsible parenting coupled with fast food is the probable cause of 98% of obesity. I think solving that 98% is the priority rather than "studying" the other 2% with genetic diseases, psychological disorders and such. Although, I honestly think NOT solving it is the priority, hence these outlandish studies funded by League of Stupid Lazy Peoples sponsored by PTB™ . Coke is a fat-bomb but every cup makes you want another. Also, fried chicken-based meat stuffed with hormones and all kinds of "secret ingredients" makes human common sense gland immediately stop functioning.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


It's bad science..... Really bad awful disgraceful science. Especially since the results are far from conclusive as the study claims.

64 obese kids.. 15 of them had the antibodies...

The study itself was only 124 kids.

Of the 64 not even half of them found what the study was trying to conclude yet they state it as conclusive evidence........

this is bad science....

reply to post by DaMod


Thank you, I agree with you completely.

We could take this a step further and look at all the numbers. So 15 out out of 67 obese kids had the antibodies, while 4 out of 57 normal weight kids had it. SO...22% versus 7%. Now, anyone who has ever read results of actual studies knows there is always a degree of accuracy + or - for the results. Sometimes it is as high as 10%, based on the cirmunstances, but usually at least 3-5%. Add those numbers in either way and you see that this would really indicate the likelihood of this virus having very little impact, if any.

What amazes me is that a 'professional' magazine would publish these results, and then mainstream media pick it up with a title that implies scientists have found the answer to childhood obesity. I find it downright scary.

I wonder if they considered the fact that perhaps being overweight might be make one more vulnerable to a common cold. Don't people who are overweight tend to suffer from more health issues than those who are not overweight?

reply to post by John_Q_Llama


You know, I was thinking the same thing.

These aren't even just overweight kids, but obese. Along with the obesity comes all other sorts of problems. Then, if you factor in WHY they are obese, or what kinds of foods and lifestyles they live, that would add (I think) even MORE indicators for illness and recovery. They have absolutely no way of knowing how long ago they were exposed or if they kids were already overweight before or after.

Another thought I had, was that with such a small study group, perhaps the kids lived in a similar geographical location. That would play a major role in exposure.

To re-state a previous comment, it is just bad science.

My concern, and why I think this story belongs here on ATS is WHY they would do this?

Usually, these studies are paid for by drug companies because they have developed a drug or vaccine to counter it. They are always biased and ultimately for the profit, not to better our society.

reply to post by westcoast


Kudos to you Westcoast!

Yes, the sample group was a very anemic at best group. I would like to know did they question the children, rather observe the children and their eating habits? Their physical actives on a day to day basis? My guess, they asked the parents and like all parents, we don't want to be seen as a bad one, probably elaborated on the amount of vegetables and fruits they eat and the amount of activities they engage in outside of school.

The cold, which can be attributed to numerous variations of viruses may somehow effect a small percentage of persons, but the overall population I would bet deals with it in the same way we have always dealt with it.

I find it also ironic that the common cold has the following symptom: LOSS OF APPETITE.

This sort of "science" really gets up my nose! I agree with everyone who has said that lazy parenting & poor food choices are the reason for obese kids, & I also agree that with obesity comes a myriad of health issues.

To take a study of less than 200 people, & churn out the statistics as scientific fact, is extremely sloppy & smacks of just one thing to me.........a grab for funding! Funding to keep these fools in a job, which is to produce more flawed science! Its about time these people were put on performance based pay / funding, instead of the poor taxpayer being forced to keep on putting their hands in their pockets for this rubbish.

**off the soapbox now folks!!!**

I can't believe they are making up more excuses for people being overweight.

Gaining weight is what happens when you consume more energy than you burn.

Give a kid this virus and starve him for two weeks. I guarantee he will lose weight.

Maybe, just maybe, researchers should remember the basic FACT that obese people tend to get sick more often as their immune system sucks... Maybe this is the reason why they have the virus antigens in them more often than non fat kids...

OR
MAYBE

They should look into the foods that these obese kids are eating and JUST MAYBE they will discover that there is a little problem with the balance in calorie intake and calorie burning???

I'm no scientists but I can tell you what will make you fat... I smell $$$ coming from pharma companies pushing for the "virus" idea to promote some "vaccine" for obesity...

Magnum

Taken from here: www.bloomberg.com...

While the number of obese children in the U.S. has tripled since 1980, the proportion of kids with the condition appears to have leveled off during the past decade, at about one in five, U.S.-sponsored researchers said in January. The latest study provides a possible link between obesity in children and a strain of adenovirus, author Jeffrey Schwimmer said.

“Our study is one example of the complexity of obesity,” said Schwimmer, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, in a telephone interview on Sept. 14. “It can’t simply be reduced to eating too much and moving too little. That’s not the whole story.”

What's so wrong about this? The study provides a "possible link" to a growing problem (pun intended). The word possible certainly doesn't imply an absolute "link".

The article is right. Childhood obesity is not a simple energy balance problem. It's not that kids are eating more calories and playing more video games. It's been shown repeatedly that obese children became fat and THEN stop exercising (playing), not the other way around. And, please, if you think kids just eat too damn much and don't play enough....go to a damn McDonalds and observe how difficult it is for a parent to get their child to finish their food before playing. The researchers understand this very well.

“This shows that body weight regulation and the development of obesity are very complicated issues,”

But really, how the hell can anyone be pissed at this study?

A common virus may be one of the causes of the troubling obesity epidemic in American children, a new study shows.

Viruses are often times responsible for many diseases.... say Type 1 Diabetes or Cancer.

This has got to be one of the most ridiculous things I have read in the headlines for a LONG time. I can't believe this was even published!!

You can't be serious? I can think of 100 more ridiculous health related items in the headlines over the past year. Calm down...this is merely an observation made by a few researchers; we're no near having vaccines to prevent viral obesity.

Originally posted by camaro68ss
What makes kids fat in america are there lazy parents that dont make them play outside. instead they stay inside all day after school, do homework and play video games! GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY SOME TAG FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

dont blam it on vireses. people love to find other things to blam it on then them selfs

It may sound counter intuitive, but you're confusing cause and effect, and association.

Childhood obesity is associated with less exercise (play). So, researchers conclude that lack of exercise causes obesity in children. But what if they're confusing cause and effect? What if Obesity causes kids to become lethargic and lazy? What if skinny kids are play because they're skinny?

Well, it turns out, this seems to be the case in children AND adults.

Let me ask you....Do you think Andre the Giant grew so large because he ate too much and didn't play? Think about that...

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd
But really, how the hell can anyone be pissed at this study?

Well I'm not pissed but you can't honestly take stuff like "cold makes me fat" seriously? Genetically modified, hormone stuffed, selectively bred, drugged etc. chicken meat and beef makes people fat, not cold virus. Also, some people should not eat certain foods and when they do (because they're mindless automatons) they'll get overweight. Generally, people eat like pigs, they put most foul things in themselves and it is logical that some of them will epically fail and acquire genetic diseases on the way that will spread onto their offspring. It is also logical that this "condition" will spread at the same rate general stupidity spreads. If general percentage of overweight people doubled in past 100 years then I'd safely say number of complete idiots doubled as well (no offence to overweight people dealing with the issue).
Unfortunately people will continue to subject themselves to poisoned meat and will naturally suffer the consequences because there's no "recent study" that will drive them away from chicken wings.

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd

Originally posted by camaro68ss
What makes kids fat in america are there lazy parents that dont make them play outside. instead they stay inside all day after school, do homework and play video games! GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY SOME TAG FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

dont blam it on vireses. people love to find other things to blam it on then them selfs

It may sound counter intuitive, but you're confusing cause and effect, and association.

Childhood obesity is associated with less exercise (play). So, researchers conclude that lack of exercise causes obesity in children. But what if they're confusing cause and effect? What if Obesity causes kids to become lethargic and lazy? What if skinny kids are play because they're skinny?

Well, it turns out, this seems to be the case in children AND adults.

Let me ask you....Do you think Andre the Giant grew so large because he ate too much and didn't play? Think about that...

I understand where your coming from. once your fat its hard to get back to "Normal" healthy size. It takes along time and dedication, I know this from experence and it was hard for me when i was only 10 pounds weight. I cant imagine being 50-100+ over weight.

The fact is they need to get there kids out and running around before it becomes a problem. I heard a study that once you start geting over weight your body produced more fat cells. If you lose the weight the fat cells srink but never get removed. they stay with you for life and make it easer for you to gain the weight back faster.

Originally posted by SassyCat

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd
But really, how the hell can anyone be pissed at this study?

Genetically modified, hormone stuffed, selectively bred, drugged etc. chicken meat and beef makes people fat, not cold virus.

Stop making things up, please.

Well I'm not pissed but you can't honestly take stuff like "cold makes me fat" seriously?

Also, some people should not eat certain foods and when they do (because they're mindless automatons) they'll get overweight. Generally, people eat like pigs, they put most foul things in themselves and it is logical that some of them will epically fail and acquire genetic diseases on the way that will spread onto their offspring. It is also logical that this "condition" will spread at the same rate general stupidity spreads. If general percentage of overweight people doubled in past 100 years then I'd safely say number of complete idiots doubled as well (no offence to overweight people dealing with the issue).

Well, colds can make you skinny if the cold virus attacks the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. And the researchers are VERY quick to point out that this is a possibility and that obesity is a multifactorial disease. It helps if you take the time to read the article in its entirety, instead of overreacting to a title.