New Research Finds COVID-19 Can Infect Body Fat Cells

New research out of Stanford University could be the answer to a COVID observation doctors have made since the beginning of the pandemic.

The new study suggested that some are at a higher risk of severe symptoms because of the way COVID-19 infects certain cells.

"So, it has been thought that obesity has worsened the risk for COVID-19 because people with obesity are more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and sometimes the amount of fatty tissue in the diaphragm makes it more difficult to expand the lungs," said Dr. Stan Schwartz, the Chief Executive Officer at Well OK.

Schwartz said there is one issue with that thought doctors haven't been able to understand.

"The one puzzling fact in this pandemic is there isn't one certain BMI that you have to cross to get to the stage where you have more risk," said Schwartz.

Schwartz said a new study may have the answer.

"First of all, they got fatty tissue from person's who has died from COVID and they took fatty samples from living persons taken during surgery from healthy people who didn't have COVID, and they tried to infect those fat cells in the lab with the virus," Schwartz said.

Research is still early but data does seem to support it.

"It turns out that the COVID virus actually infects certain cells that are in fatty tissue," said Schwartz.

Schwartz said this could be a big breakthrough in understanding more about the virus.

"This may be the explanation of why the risk of severe infection may be proportionate to the amount of extra adipose or fatty tissue someone has," said Schwartz.

He said this could also be linked to why some people have long-lasting COVID side effects, but he said more research will need to be done to connect the two.

"It'll make a difference in recognition of what treatment is necessar,y and hopefully be able to eradicate any COVID reservoir that you may have in your body after the respiratory symptoms go away," said Schwartz.

The study has not yet been peer reviewed. Schwartz said more studies need to be done.