Could a child's common cold be a harbinger of potential obesity? That's what scientists with the University of California and Rady Children's Hospital are trying to determine after a correlation was found between a common cold virus--adenovirus 36--and overweight children in a study published this week in the journal Pediatrics.
The study examined 124 children, ages 8 to 18, 67 of which were considered to be obese. In 19 of the 124 children, neutralizing antibodies specific to AD-36 were found, according to the Wall Street Journal, meaning they had been infected with the virus. Of the 19 infected children, 15 were obese; those infected weighed roughly 50 pounds more than those not infected.
What's more, when compared with the other 52 children who were classified as obese, the 15 who had been infected with AD-36 weighed about 35 pounds more than those who tested negative for the virus.
"The bottom line is, it's a big number," Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, and one of the study's authors, told MyHealthNewsDaily. "It's more than enough to be associated with health problems."
Still, others--like Dr. Goutham Rao, clinical director of the Weight Management and Wellness Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh--are taking the findings with a grain of salt, reports HealthDay News.
The findings bring up "the age-old chicken or egg problem," Rao said. "Does this virus disrupt certain pathways and cause obesity? Or, do obese kids tend to have this virus more often?"
To learn more:
- here's the study's abstract
- read this Wall Street Journal article
- check out this HealthDay News piece
- read this MyHealthNewsDaily story
- check out this U.S. News & World Report article