New research seems to suggest that obesity trends seen all over the world, could have reasons other than just poor diets and lack of exercise – that it could be viruses that may be responsible for obesity. Researchers think that there could be a combination of issues that impact organs and cells of the body that could be responsible for a fatter populace, and even fatter pets!
Scientists sought to investigate the phenomenon of lab rats, mice on diets and feral animals that lived close to humans, all putting on weight.
More than twenty thousand animals living around industrialized societies were examined and body weight in all cases was seen to be increasing.
Scientists, whose research was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, were surprised to find that “over the past several decades, average mid-life body weights have risen among primates and rodents living in research colonies, as well as among feral rodents and domestic dogs and cats”.
This caused the researchers to opine that reasons other than overeating and lack of exercise contribute to obesity – such as accumulation of endocrine disrupting chemicals.
This research could have significant implications for the way we look at the reasons behind obesity and resolving the problem.
