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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : July 25, 2014 6:38 PM IST
Biologists have discovered an extremely widespread virus that could be as old as humans and could play a major role in obesity and diabetes. More than half of the world's population is host to the newly described virus, named crAssphage, which infects one of the most common types of gut bacteria, Bacteroidetes, the findings showed. (Read: World Obesity Day 2013: Fat ain't fit)
This phylum of bacteria is thought to be connected with obesity, diabetes and other gut-related diseases. 'It is not unusual to go looking for a novel virus and find one. But it is very unusual to find one that so many people have in common. The fact that it has flown under the radar for so long is very strange,' said Robert Edwards, a bioinformatics professor at the San Diego State University in the US. In the DNA fecal samples from 12 different individuals, the researchers noticed a particular cluster of viral DNA, about 97,000 base pairs long, that the samples all had in common. When Edwards and his colleagues checked this discovery against a comprehensive listing of known viruses, they came up empty. (Read: Tackling obesity in children)
This was a new virus that about half the sampled people had in their bodies that nobody knew about. The fact that it is so widespread indicates that it probably is not a particularly young virus, either. 'We have basically found it in every population we have looked at,' Edwards said. 'As far as we can tell, it is as old as humans are,' he added. The study appeared in the journal Nature Communications. (Read: Beat diabetes naturally with these 10 yoga asanas (Gallery)
Here are some simple tips that will help you lose weight:
Tip 1: Accept your problem
It's not just about looking good, obesity will kill you. It will give you heart disease, type 2 diabetes or joint problems. If you're a guy, the excess cholesterol build-up will give you erectile dysfunction and is also likely to increase infertility in both sexes. That's not how we were meant to live our lives. So stop listening to what others say about obesity and accept you've a problem. And obesity is not a sign of prosperity; it just means you are a glutton.
Tip 2: Stop believing in fad diets
I lost 40 kg in 9 months and I did it without any crash dieting. I didn't take weight loss pills, nor did I follow a fad diet. All I did was exercise and eat healthy. There are thousands of crash diets out there which will help you lose say 5-10 kg in a week but then the weight will come back when you stop following that diet. I've seen scores of people who lose a lot of weight but then gain it all back once they stop dieting. (Read: Fad is bad!)
Tip 3: Up the ante gradually
I was extremely lucky to have a trainer who knew that you can't push fat people too much or you'll end up disheartening them. When I went to the gym, my trainer Anil Bailu (a former Mr Maharashtra) started me off slow, not making me do more exercise than my body could handle. Every week, I would do weight training thrice a week and cardio for six days. In the beginning, that would only consist of 15-20 minutes sessions of mild walking, because he knew that my obese body couldn't take more. Gradually, as I lost weight, he upped the ante, increased the cardio time and I started lifting heavier weights as well. So don't overdo it and have patience, the results will come. (Read: Five easy tips to lose weight by an ex-obese!)
With inputs from IANS
Photo source: Getty images
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