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I think what a lot of people are failing to realize, and the article even points this out, is that this virus could be just a FACTOR in some people's weight gain.
With that being said, there are MANY FACTORS, involved in weight gain, and sure while it seems it's root problem may be in people eating too much, these scientists are also trying to find out why people eat too much.
I watched a NOVA episode just a few weeks ago where they have found that some people have a damaged receptor where their brain never tells them they are satiated. All you see is some fat slob eating more than he / she should, but what you are not seeing is someone who's body does not work exactly like yours.
That person who has the damaged receptor can exercise all damn day long, and try to diet, but they are prone to failure, because their body is telling them constantly they are hungry.
They have also found in studies that when dieting your body works against you to maintain what it learns over time is a set weight point.
For example, if you weight 175 for 10 or so years, that becomes a set weight point for your body. If you diet and lose 10 pounds, your body starts to work harder to gain that weight back, and vice versa when you do gain weight.
However if you weight 175 pounds for 10 years, and you gain 10 pounds, your body will fight to go back to that 175, but if you continue to put on weight at some point your body will create a new set point. So, if you lose the weight, you have to keep that weight of for an extended period of time for it to create that new set point.
Either way, you're fucked if you fail in the slightest bit.
Take me for example. I've had the lap band and have lost 65 pounds. However, my brain still tells me all day long that I am hungry, at times I feel like I'm starving, even though my stomach can only handle 4oz of food per meal.
I will constantly have to fight this craving, in order not to cheat, and ultimately undo what I have accomplished this far. This is not just something I will have to face for the next year, but it seems my entire life time.
There are many physical factors as to why people eat, this is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak, because we haven't even gone into the psychological factors.
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