Front page of the national enquirer this morning, er, I mean Fox news: Obesity can be caught like a cold
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482788,00.html
That’s all we need, another excuse for obesity. Back to Golden Coral I go, I am not obese, I have a virus!
I can just see it now. Craig Alexander cannot make it too the start line in Kona this year to defend his title, he caught the dreaded “fat cold”.
If the research is correct in its conclusions, why would you get upset and indignant because it happens to challenge your world view that fat people just need to HTFU?
=)
When i first checked out foxnews this morning, I thought someone had hacked them and put that up as a joke.
Did you miss the point where it says they gain weight for 3 months? If that is the case I don’t see people becoming obese in 3 months. I agree with the OP that it is just another excuseto remain fat and lazy.
LOL, you guys just admitted to checking Fox News 
.
Yeah yeah yeah, it’s like reading the tabloids at the supermarket. You just have to look!
A woman I am coaching asked me yesterday if she was normal for being so intense about her training and her approach to life. She has been getting up train at 4:30 AM and has been pretty intense about her volunteer work and classes. My response. . .
Why be normal:
The media concept of normal in the USA is so far out of whack with being passionate, happy and healthy it makes me sad.
The media concept of normal in the USA is so far out of whack with being passionate, happy and healthy it makes me sad.
Well said. Unfortunately it’s not much different here in the UK.
Before anyone gets upset about that picture before even reading the article. That’s the actual picture foxnews used on the front page of the website to promote the article. Sad indeed.
That POOR, POOR chair! Someone save the chair!
That’s fokking hot. I need me some of that ass.
That POOR, POOR chair! Someone save the chair!
Welcome to my world - working in healthcare in a fairly obese region. If only the spreadsheet challenge awarded points for pushing stretchers or wheelchairs loaded down with people like the above example, I'd be kicking everybody's butts. (I think the wheelchair wheels are something like 4 cross 48 spoke, and somehow manage to remain intact, even though the tires compress to the point of flatness.)
BTW, I have been required to assist in cases where patients have become lodged in wheelchairs.
Well said. Unfortunately it’s not much different here in the UK.
Or here in Canada…
I checked to see if I could find the original journal article that Fox sourced (assuming they use sources!). What I don’t understand is that the most recent article in the literature from this guy, Nikhil Dhurandhar, is from a few months ago: 2 October 2008.
Here is the abstract: Human adenovirus Ad36 is causally and correlatively associated in animals and humans, respectively, with increased adiposity and altered metabolic profile. We inoculated rats with Ad36 or UV-inactivated Ad36, or mock-infected them. Four days later, Ad36-infected rats showed 23% greater epididymal fat pad weight and viral mRNA; the viral DNA could also be detected in tissues viz. the liver, brain, and adipose tissue. Intranasal or intra-peritoneal routes of viral inoculation showed similar tissue affinity. The serum cytokine response was markedly down-regulated. Ad36 acutely suppresses the systemic immune response and spreads widely. This information will help to determine Ad36 tissue tropism and its metabolic consequences.
Why is this in the news cycle today?
I recall a while ago the NYT magazine did a big spread on the obesity virus. This is not new news.
Did you read the article ?? As another poster has pointed out the virus may result in weight gain for ~ 3 months until the body builds up resistance to it. Obviously Mr. Bloomers has used this as an excuse for taking a shot at Fox News. The tactic of name calling instead of discussion of the research findings is a dead give away. The use of the photo is uncalled for and wrong - it is used to call attention to the article but demeaning someone’s personal appearance serves no constructive purpose.
There was also a story on 60 minutes about this. I tried to find it on cbs.com, but had no luck. The story was pretty compelling. IIRC they “proved” it through animal models and have seen similar effects on human stem cells. They were also very likely to find this “mutation or virus” in fat people than others.
Do wheelchairs have tubulars or clinchers?
Wasn’t this one of the story lines in a Boston Legal episode from the 4th season?
In my office I’ve had to get chairs with no arm rests for my really fat clients. I got tired of having some of them act like I’m Satan because I had chairs for normal width people in my office.
You know, there’s a lot of research now showing that weight gain and loss is far more complex than calories consumed minus calories burned. The idea of a set-point is pretty well established (a person’s body fights to keep weight stable, slowing metabolism when one diets and speeding it when one overeats). There’s also good evidence that people have different body compositions in terms of their fat cells (if I recall, I think more brown fat cells means it’s harder to keep weight down). And I’ve hear a few times about specific organisms that are related to weight gain, as this Fox story discusses. There’s also some evidence for differences in satiety among people. A skinny person might eat 1000 calories and feel full, while an obese person may eat 1000 calories and have the kind of burning hunger one of us might have after a 3 hour ride. So, yes, there is some willpower at work, but some people have a much greater obstacle to overpower.
I bring all this up because I think there is often a tendency to simply blame overweight people for their condition, when in reality the causes are much more complex than simply gluttony.
Doug