This entry was posted on 12/12/2007 3:33 PM and is filed under ARTICLES.
Obese people find it harder to fight infections, and a weakened immune response may be to blame, suggests a new study from Boston University researchers.
In experiments with mice infected with the bacteriaPorphyromonas gingivalis, obese mice had less ability to battle gum infection than their normal-weight counterparts, according to the report in this week's early online edition of theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"For years, we have had difficulty understanding why obese people have difficulty clearing an infection," said lead researcher Dr. Salomon Amar, associate dean for research at the university's School of Dental Medicine.
"Now we understand that dysfunction in some of the mechanisms, as a result of the obesity, explain difficulty in clearing the infection and also the difficulty in wound healing," Amar said.
In the study, Amar's team tied silk threads infected with the bacteria around the molars of obese and normal-weight 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.
The researchers found that the obese mice had a compromised immune response to the bacteria, which made the animals more susceptible to the infection. . .
