メディエイゴ

The emerging(1) idea that obesity(2) may have an infectious(3) origin gets new support in a cross-sectional study(4) by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers(5) who found that children exposed to(6) a particular strain(7) of adenovirus(8) were significantly(9) more likely to be obese(10).

The study will be published in the September 20 online edition(11) of the journal Pediatrics(12). September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month(13).

Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD, associate professor(14) of clinical pediatrics(15) at UC(16) San Diego, and colleagues(17) examined 124 children, ages 8 to 18, for the presence of antibodies(18) specific to(19) adenovirus 36(20) [AD36], one of more than 50 strains of adenovirus known to infect(21) humans and cause a variety of(22) respiratory(23), gastrointestinal(24) and other infections(25). AD36 is the only human adenovirus currently(26) linked to human obesity.

Slightly more than half of the children in the study [67] were considered obese, based on a Body Mass Index(27) or(28) BMI in the 95th percentile(29) or greater. The researchers detected neutralizing antibodies(30) specific to AD36 in 19 of the children [15 percent]. The majority of these AD36-positive(31) children [78 percent] were obese, with AD36 antibodies much more frequent in obese children [15 of 67] than in non-obese(32) children [4 of 57].

Children who were AD36-positive weighed almost 50 pounds more, on average(33), than children who were AD36-negative(34). Within the group of obese children, those with evidence of AD36 infection weighed an average of 35 pounds more than obese children who were AD36-negative.