Viruses and Weight Gain

Remedy magazine, Spring 2008

"The Amazing Life of a Fat Cell"

In 2007, Magdalena Pasarica, M.D., Ph.D., principal researcher at the Pennington Biomedical research Center in Baton Rouge LA, presented a paper at the International Applied Fat Technology Society meeting about her research on the human adenovirus 36 (AD-36) and its effect on the various fat cells found in fatty tissue. Adenoviruses, the common viruses that cause colds and flu ... "But when we infected chickens, rats, marmosets and mice with AD-36," says Dr. Pasarica, "after three to six months, they all became obese, even though they consumed similar amounts of food as the control group did."

Dr. Pasarica’s group then studied the effect of AD-36 in animal preadipocyte cell lines and found that the virus caused theses cells to accumulate fat. ... [In human research] "they were testing for people who had been infected with the virus at one point. What they found was that the people who were antibody positive were significantly heavier than the ones that were antibody negative." [In testing with adult stem cells] Dr Pasarica’s team performed a petri dish experiment that showed once the stem cells ... were infected with the virus, they became fat cells.

"The virus tells them to become fat cells," she says.

"We’ve shown that AD-36 could act in three ways to make people become fatter and fatter," conjectures Dr. Pasarica. "The virus makes existing fat cells bigger and fatter. It makes pre-fat cells turn into fat cells that in turn get fatter and fatter. And it influences stem cells in adipose tissue to turn into fat cells. It appears this is how we get more fat cells and fatter fat cells."

"We are not claiming that all obesity is caused by this infection," she stresses, "but we do believe that a certain percent might be caused by it."

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Ken Fujioka, M.D. of the respected Scripps Clinic in San Diego says "For a long time, we've known that viruses can get into your DNA and reprogram your body." Therefore, it’s not in the least "weird" (if you’re talking to a virologist) that a virus can cause the various problems evidenced in CFS ... including newly-developed weight problems in people who were previously of normal weight.

I have found, over 21 years with the illness, that when I go into relapse, my weight goes up, and when I go into remission, the extra weight comes off. Prior to getting the virus, my weight had been stable at 125 for almost 10 years, which was less than the lowest-acceptable weight for someone of my height, and had been 117 for almost 10 years before that. Clearly, I did not have a weight problem, or even a tendency toward weight gain, until I got the virus; the virus changed something about my body, for the worse.

I can tell you, from two decades of experimentation, that when I’m in relapse, it’s virtually impossible to lose weight. Even at 800 calories a day (1000 is considered a "starvation diet"), the pounds stubbornly stay put. My doctor’s advice was that it was more important to eat well – lots of protein – than to worry about my weight.

The only time I’ve lost weight while in relapse was a period of several months where almost nothing stayed down; one month, all I could keep down was instant potatoes: no salt, no butter, no milk, no gravy, just potato flakes and water. As soon as my doctor figured out why I couldn’t keep food down, my weight went right back up where it had been, despite the fact that I was able to be more physically active than when I was essentially bedridden. (No, I was not over-eating; I was still at a reasonable 1200 calories a day or less.) I don’t recommend constant nausea as a weight loss program, though.

This, too, shall pass. Eventually, I’ll go into remission and the weight will come off. Until then, I am following doctor’s orders to eat a protein-rich diet of 1200-1500 calories a day, hoping to build up my immune system enough to get back into remission.

Meanwhile, don’t let anyone make you feel guilty that the CFS virus has made you gain weight. Altered metabolism is a known symptom.  Eating well is better for you than drastic dieting.