CHINA: Obese People More Likely To Have Disease

BEIJING (People's Daily), December 13, 2007: Obese people find it harder to fight infections, and a weakened immune response may be to blame, suggests a study from Boston University researchers, according to researchers. Dysfunction in some mechanisms, as a result of the obesity, explain difficulty in clearing the infection and also the difficulty in wound healing, said lead researcher Dr. Salomon Amar, associate dean for research at the university's School of Dental Medicine. In the study, Amar's team tied silk threads infected with the bacteria around the molars of obese mice. They then compared the animals' responses to infection, by measuring both the amount of bone loss and the growth of the bacteria around their teeth. They had less ability to battle gum infection than their normal-weight counterparts. The researchers found that the obese mice had a compromised immune response to the bacteria, which made the animals more susceptible to the infection. It may involve a signaling pathway that controls a protein called NF-kB. Alterations in this protein may be caused by constant exposure to food. At some point, the body doesn't respond properly to infection, he said. The same mechanism is at work in humans, Amar added. In fact, studies in obese people have shown they are more likely to have gum disease than non-obese people. Source: Xinhua/agencies Copyright People's Daily