September 5, 2025 • 24 mins
Fascinating new research reveals how catching a common cold may provide surprising protection against COVID-19, reducing infection risk by 50% and viral load by tenfold. We explore the science behind this finding and why children might experience milder COVID symptoms thanks to their frequent colds.
• Recent study shows having a cold in the previous month led to 50% lower risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2
• Participants with recent colds showed tenfold lower COVID-19 viral loads
• Common colds trigger production of airway defense proteins that stay active and help fight other infections
• Children have higher activation of these defense proteins and catch colds more frequently
• "Cross protection" may explain why kids often had milder or asymptomatic COVID cases
• This was an observational study before vaccines were available
We also dive into canine obesity research, examining why 50% of US dogs are overweight and what pet parents can do about it:
• Overweight dogs may live 2.5 years less than dogs at ideal weight
• Retrievers and spaniels show 10% higher food motivation than average
• Labrador retrievers have a genetic mutation (POMC gene) that prevents feeling full
• Multi-dog households and urban environments increase food motivation
• Body condition scoring (BCS) is an underutilized clinical tool for monitoring weight
• Structured feeding times, measured portions, exercise, and food puzzles help manage weight
Our all links to social media and more!
For Science, Empathy, and Cuteness!
Being Kind is a Superpower.
https://twitter.com/bunsenbernerbmd
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello science enthusiasts.
I'm Jason Zukoski.
And I'm Chris Zukoski, we'rethe pet parents of Bunsen,
beaker, bernoulli and Ginger.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The science animals on social media.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
If you love science.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And you love pets.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You've come to the right spot, so put on your
safety glasses and hold on toyour tail.
This is the Science Podcast.
Hello everybody and welcomeback to the Science Podcast.
We hope you're happy andhealthy out there.
This is episode 26 of seasonseven.
Chris, how does it feel to beback at school, in the swing of
things?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It feels awesome and amazing.
I made it through the week.
It was a short week.
Monday was a holiday for us andI said to my grade 12s I'm like
woohoo, we made it through theweek and they were a little bit
tired, but at that time I wasn'ttired.
By the end of the day, though,I gave all my energy to my last
(01:07):
block class and then I sat downand I had a few moments of.
That was a week, that was awrap.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, it takes a lot of energy to be a teacher at any
level, because you you have tothe kids know when you're low
energy and if you want a lowenergy class, you get that by
being a low energy teacher.
And I know you both and I bothyou and I we are very animated
when we teach and it does makeit a long day, but it's a fun
(01:37):
day too.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, it does.
It takes a lot of effort.
No, it doesn't.
I get my energy from the kids,so when they're happy, I'm happy
.
No, it doesn't.
I get my energy from the kids,so when they're happy, I'm happy
.
And but you're right, whenyou're just sometimes grinding
through.
You were telling me about someconcept that you were teaching
and you just said, oh, I justhad to get through it, and now
that they've had some practice,they feel better.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, sometimes teaching the why is a big
stretch at the highest levels ofmath and science.
Because the kids are just like,wow, does this apply to
anything I need to know?
And it's because it's a puzzle.
Right, high levels of math arejust puzzles.
It's weight training for yourbrain.
And really at the highestlevels of science too, it's
(02:22):
critical thinking and weighttraining for your brain.
So when we send these kids offto university, they have pretty
strong muscles from all of thatweight training.
So I do get why some kids arelike why do we have to do this?
How does this relate toanything?
And I say you know what?
If you go to the gym and you dosome of those weightlifting
exercises, chances are you'llnever, ever have to do lift
(02:43):
weight like that in your life.
But it makes all of yourmuscles stronger.
So when you do somethingsimilar, it's easier.
They don't like that.
Oh, they don't like thatanalogy.
All right, what's on the showthis week?
We've got two really goodscience articles.
The first one is about how thecommon cold may protect folks
(03:05):
from COVID-19 infections, or atleast the severity of infections
.
I found that to be interestingso I'd like to get into it.
And our science article aboutpets is about canine obesity.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That just makes me think of how our first dog, our
first golden retriever, reallyliked food and when we took her
to the vet they said oof, she isoverweight and you need to lay
off the treats.
But they also said thatretrievers really can pack on
the pounds.
So, it'll be interesting totalk about that article and dog
(03:44):
obesity.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, all right, let's get to it.
There's no time like Sciencetime.
This week in science news,let's take a look at some really
interesting data about thecommon cold and COVID-19.
I just mentioned, the newschool year is starting and with
the new school year, you and Iare both going to get sick soon.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
No.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I refuse, Jason I never get sick.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You absolutely will get, whatever the little
gremlins have.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, there's a horrible, awful cold coming
within the next two months.
I'm going to get something fromthe kids.
I just always do and that'sbecause you and I interact with
hundreds and hundreds of kidsevery day, and they're high
school kids.
You'd think they'd be not gross, but they are gross because
they're kids and I know you're alittle bit less susceptible to
(04:39):
it than I am, but I have a mancold, I'm sure, coming down the
pipe.
This study examined whetherrecent respiratory virus
infections, specifically therhinovirus that's the cause of
the common cold, influenced therisk and severity of getting
SARS-CoV-2 infections.
This comes from HumanEpidemiology and the Response to
(05:00):
SARS-CoV-2, HEROES study.
The period it was looked at wasbetween May 2020 and February
2021, and nearly 1,400 UShouseholds participated giving
up nasal swabs, so this washappening during the pandemic,
obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So the new analysis that they have put forth on this
study.
They focused on more than 1, athousand participants and they
compared the coronaviruspositive and to the coronavirus
negative cases within 30 daysbefore a household's first COVID
infection.
Jason, interestingly, the mainfindings were having a cold in
(05:41):
the previous month led to abouta 50% lower risk of contracting
SARS-CoV-2 compared with thosewithout a cold in that same
period.
So there was a reduced risk ofinfection by having a cold in
the previous month.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Huge 50%, that's massive.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
That's massive.
And then also participants whodid have a recent cold showed
about a tenfold lower SARS-CoV-2viral load.
So, like you said, a milderCOVID-19 infection while they
were infected or a COVID-19response.
So that lower viral loadequaled reduced severity as the
(06:25):
immune system actually has lessvirus to fight off.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Now some of the possible mechanisms for this are
pretty interesting.
We have airway defense proteinsin our body and when you get
rhinovirus or the cold, thatinfection triggers the
production of these proteins inour airways.
Those proteins are part of ourimmune system.
They help fight off infectionand they appear to stay active.
(06:51):
That kind of pre-primes yourbody to protect against
SARS-CoV-2 if it gets in thereshortly after.
Now.
This is the most interestingthing.
I thought this is the mostinteresting part of it because I
think it's.
I have a lot of antidotalreporting on this from all of my
nieces and nephews.
It's about kids versus adults.
(07:13):
So kids had a higher activationof these airway defense
proteins after a cold and, waymore importantly, kids were also
way more likely to catch colds,contributing to their higher
rates of milder or asymptomaticCOVID-19 infections.
Do you remember this during thepandemic, like they always said
(07:35):
, kids can get COVID, obviously,but they weren't getting as
sick as the adults or like theywould be in a household with
COVID and they just wouldn't.
They would be asymptomatic whenthey didn't have any symptoms.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And I always found that interesting and even that
played out in the schools.
That's why our kids couldcontinue going to schools.
Unless there was an activeCOVID-19 case in a classroom,
then the whole class went hometo isolate.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And the antidotal reporting is we have, we've.
We're in a different phase ofour life than my siblings
because Adam just moved out, sowe're empty nesters.
Not going to lie, it's been.
This last week has been betterbut like the first couple of
weeks, it was super weirdknowing he had moved away.
But my siblings have littlekids and they are constantly
(08:23):
sick.
Like all the time we meet upwith them they're at least two
or three of them have somesniffy, terrible cold.
They're always have these awfulcolds.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I know it's terrible.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
But then I wonder if they felt the same way about us
when we had like when Duncan waslittle or when Adam was little.
Maybe Adam and Duncan werealways sick too.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
They weren't sick, our kids weren't sick.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Maybe they were.
You're probably right, jason, Iprobably just myself.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I don't like being sick, so I just say no, and my
body's okay, and I just thinkwhen your kid projectile vomits
across the living room, youblock it from your memory.
It's not something you want toremember.
And then you just remember thatnever happened, it's easier not
to remember.
It's easier to not to rememberthe projectile vomiting across
(09:15):
the living room.
Um, that's that happened, Chris.
Our kids have done that.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I know, but we should have a warning in case someone
listening has a sensitivestomach.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Sorry, you should have a warning about.
This is what's going to happenif you have kids.
Lots of projectile vomiting.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
It also happens with dogs.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
True Dogs are oh yeah .
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Right, okay, but anyways, chris, what's the
implications of this?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
So the broader implications are something
called cross protection, whichsuggests that common colds may
actually train the immune systemto mount a faster response
against new pathogens, includingSARS-CoV-2.
And that is really importantfrom a public health perspective
.
It helped explain why childrenoften experience milder COVID-19
(10:04):
outcomes compared to adults and, interestingly, you can
potentially apply this with theunderstanding of the airway
defense priming system.
That could inform strategies toboost innate immunity against
respiratory viruses that arebeyond COVID-19.
So it's like training for later.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Before people listening start to schlep their
kids all over the place and makethem hang out with kids who
have colds to potentiallyprotect them from COVID.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Like a chicken pox party, Jay.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, exactly, that was a terrible idea back in the
day.
Anyways, this was anobservational study, like they
pointed.
This pointed out in thelimitations of the study.
It doesn't show causation, itjust shows association.
It only focused on onerespiratory virus, that was
rhinovirus, and it didn't lookat others like influenza or RSV,
(10:59):
and this occurred early in thepandemic.
This was before vaccinationsoccurred, so it would be really
interesting to see what happenedas the vaccine started to roll
out.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
if, if it would, the data was just noise or it
actually was legit there and I'ma data person, so I would love
to see that data collection tobe able to compare it with the
different variants of COVID-19and in comparison to the
pre-vaccination era, for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Anyways, I thought it was just a fun little study.
I'm always gently teasing mysiblings that their kids are
always sick and they always makeme sick every time we hang out,
but maybe in a roundabout way,they're protecting me from
COVID-19.
That's science news for thisweek.
This week in pet science we'regoing to talk about canine
(11:52):
obesity and food motivation.
The stat in the study we weretalking about this with Marla
Smith, who is the who hasChesney, the service Roddy about
the fact that 50% of US dogsare overweight or obese and that
seems like such a shockingamount of dogs.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And that's one of the most common canine health
concerns is that obesity?
Because it impacts, like I saidto Marla.
I said you are what you eat andunfortunately, having that
extra weight or that obesitycauses canine health concerns.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, a whole host of them Higher levels of diabetes,
arthritis.
You have those joint issuescardiovascular disease, skin
problems, cardiovascular disease, skin problems and the lifetime
and the lifespan studies showthat overweight dogs may live
two and a half years less thandogs at an ideal weight.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
We try to keep our dogs really lean and we get
comments on that like beaker islike a lean golden retriever she
is, she's, she's so strong andso athletic, uh, but she is lean
like there's not an ounce offat on that girl and the vet was
so impressed because, how Imentioned earlier about callan
(13:12):
and the pitfalls of a retrievergetting some chonk junk in the
trunk, I know and I definitely Imiss that dog I know, and
reading and learning, that theymay have two and a half years
less life than dogs at the idealweight.
But you know what?
We got the weight off of her,like she was chonky for a little
bit of time until we were madeaware that she's a bit.
(13:33):
She has a little bit too muchlove handles to handle.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
For a while, Duncan was giving her two breakfasts.
Yeah, exactly, and that Ouroldest son Duncan would help
with the dog and Adam was atoddler when we got.
He would have been by the timeCallan got Chonky like what four
.
He'd been in any position tostart feeding the dog.
Anyways, it's not his fault.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
No but yeah.
So when I took Beaker I'm and Itake Bunsen and Bernoulli, of
course to the vet.
I always ask how are theirweight we want to make?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
sure that they are healthy weight so that they can
live their best life.
Yeah, and Bernoulli and Bunsenthough they look burly, they are
trimmed too Like they're not.
There's no chunk on those guysat all.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
No.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, bernoulli is he , would you remember?
Let me start again like afterBunsen's surgery.
Do you remember feeling likehow muscly he is?
He's like a body, but he was abodybuilder under all that fur.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, and he lost 10 pounds overnight with his
prototaped worm cyst.
It's like weight loss surgery,but not yeah, and it was weird
because I'm like it's weird thathe's gaining weight because we
had not changed his diet oranything and we should have
clued in that just a second here.
(14:50):
He shouldn't weigh this much.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Well, it was only about what?
Seven pounds more, but stillthat was.
We weren't changing anything.
You're right, that was odd.
Anyways, the data from thestudy comes from owner surveys,
their feeding practices, theperceptions of their body weight
and food motivation, andveterinarian medical records,
including body condition scoresor BCSs.
All of this was published inthe American Journal of
(15:15):
Veterinary Research and it comesfrom a massive cohort of dogs,
so this is one of those goodstudies where they actually have
huge amounts of animals 50,000dogs, the DAP cohort, one of the
largest canine aging studiesworldwide.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
So you know what makes a difference Breed and
genetics.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yep, the sporting group dogs like retrievers and
spaniels and setters.
They showed a 10% higher foodmotivation than average, and
having that interest in foodmeans that they're hungry.
And Labrador retrievers inparticular are already known to
have a genetic mutation.
It's called the POMC genemutation and that's linked to
(16:00):
them not feeling full right.
It's an impaired signals thatthey're like oh, I'm not
satisfied, and so they have ahigher risk of obesity.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, interestingly enough, they're finding that
similar gene mutation in humanswho are obese.
That you just never feel full,you're hungry all the time.
That's like me.
I'm hungry all the time.
You like me, I'm hungry all thetime you do enjoy food, yeah
yeah, I gotta watch.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
I gotta watch what I eat a bit the reason why we see
it is because retrievers andspaniels are among the most
common us breeds.
Because there are so many ofthem, the breed predisposition
has a major population leveleffect.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Dogs were more food motivated, possibly reflecting
reduced exercise opportunitiesand being more bored.
Multi-dog households increasedfood motivation.
Yeah, we're a multi-doghousehold and some owners often
resort to free feeding or justleaving a bunch of food
available.
That may cause competition, andthen you have scavenging and
(17:06):
overeating and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I've heard that too, though Families that say oh, we
had six boys, and if you didn'teat and scarf down your food,
you didn't get any food.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah, you had to eat quickly or you got nothing.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yes, Did that happen in your household?
You have two boys and two girls.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Well, I don't know, I forget I'd have to talk to my
dad.
Maybe he wouldn't even remember.
Like when I was a teenager, Iate a lot like teenage boys.
Well, we had Adam and he wouldgo through four liters of milk
in two days.
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, and Duncan didn't eat as much Weird.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
No, that's true, he did not.
He ate a lot of chewy bars.
Oh yeah, that's, true, he wouldgo through 60 chewy bars in a
week.
Yeah, I don't know.
You're onto something, though,like a bunch of teenage boys in
the same house.
You better get your food oryou're getting scraps.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
So, jason, you might be wondering how the body
condition scoring or that BCSworks, and it's on a one to nine
scale, with five as ideal.
So what the veterinarian doesis they feel the ribs, the hips
and the waist, and it's a keyclinical tool, but it's actually
underused in practice.
So dogs that are involved insports or working activities,
(18:24):
their owners were more likely toknow about and apply BCS, which
highlights how owner engagementand education drive better
monitoring and maybe better foodchoices for their dogs.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Now if the vet does realize the dog's overweight and
suggests weight management,it's not going to work if the
owners don't follow it, becausethe dog eats what you feed it.
And if you're supposed to feedit a bit different and you don't
, that's really on you, not thedog, and there's sometimes
miscommunication between vetsand owners.
That sometimes are frequentbarrier.
(19:01):
Also, breeds like retrieversmay need stricter portion
controls or individualizedfeeding regimens, like they may
not be able to follow what's onthe bag of food.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
That's what I noticed too, because we would feed her,
callan, what was on the bag,but she was chonky, so we had to
not follow those instructionsand it's not like she didn't get
a lot of exercise like I.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I took that dog, I did everything with Callan.
She was my Bunsen before therewas Bunsen like.
We went on walks through thecreek.
We went on snowshoeing and Ididn't I don't think I snowshoed
back, then I skied with her allyou had cross-country skis.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, yeah, I skied with her all the time you had
cross country skis.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, yeah, I skied with her all the time.
Yeah, exercise enrichment andthat structured feeding, which
means you have a meal at six andyou have a meal at a certain
time of the day and you actuallymeasure the portions, you don't
eyeball it.
Those are key strategies.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Another thing is using food puzzles.
Yeah, so the dog works fortheir food.
Yeah, all our dogs love to do.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, all our dogs love food puzzles.
They eat really fast but wehave them on, not kibble.
They're on a raw food diet soyou know how those.
There's a feeding dish so theyeat slower.
I've seen that for some dogsbut that would be gross for the
food we give them.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
But Gord does it with Doc.
He has the feeding dish and hehas raw food.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Oh interesting, we can try it.
We just have to wash it everytime.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
They lick their bowls clean, Jay.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
There's still bacteria on there.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
There is.
You should wash your dog'sbowls.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yes, you should bulls ?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yes, you should.
So if we're talking aboutweight management, there is a
broader context and importancefor talking about this or
raising awareness or educatingabout obesity in dogs, the
companion animal obesity hasbeen called the number one
nutritional disorder in dogs.
Like in humans, canine obesitydoes arise from a complex web of
genetic, behavioral,environmental and social factors
(21:07):
.
So you can't just blame it onthe free feeding, and studies
like this one aim to guide vetstowards a personalized weight
management program that's moretailored to breed tendencies or
the environment, and playing onthe owner awareness as well.
So working in team to help yourdog live its best life at the
(21:31):
right size and weight.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
And the biggest advice I can give is to make
sure one of your kids isn'tgiving them a second breakfast
after you just give them abreakfast, sure one of your kids
isn't giving them a secondbreakfast, after you just give
them a breakfast.
That's a lot of calories for adog, a big old second breakfast,
though I'm sure Pippin and Marywould enjoy that.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Bernoulli too.
You fed him supper and then helooked at me and he was standing
by the fridge and he looked atthe fridge and he looked at me
and he looked at the fridgebecause he knows that's where
his food comes from and hethought he could trick me yeah,
yeah, he loves food so much.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
They all do bunsen, beaker and bernoulli.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
They're super food motivated that makes it easy to
train.
That makes them easy to trainbecause if they were husky and
stubborn?
Although bunsen is selective,it has to be a high value treat
sometimes before he makes achoice, sometimes to do things.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yes, if the choice is particularly sucky for him.
Yeah, oh, hey, we're going tobrush you.
Here's some kibble he's no.
Nope, that's not a good enough.
If you have a peanut butterKong, he's okay.
Maybe, maybe it's gotta bepretty high value for some
things he doesn't like.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, yeah, he doesn't like being brushed.
Bernoulli loves it though.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I know he's so weird.
He's like the weirdest.
He's such an odd dog and that'swhat makes him cool.
All right, that's pet sciencefor this week.
That's it for this week.
Show Thanks for coming backweek after week to listen to the
Science Podcast.
And a shout out to all the TopDogs that's the top tier of our
Patreon community the Pop Hack.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
You can sign up.
Iny Walker, sarah Bram, wendy,diane Mason and Luke Helen Chin,
elizabeth Bourgeois, marianneMcNally, catherine Jordan,
shelley Smith, laura Steffensen,tracy Leinbach, ann Uchida,
heather Burback, kelly andcuteness.
Hello science enthusiasts.
I'm Jason Zukoski.
And I'm Chris Zukoski, we'rethe pet parents of Bunsen,
beaker, bernoulli and Ginger.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The science animals on social media.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
If you love science.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And you love pets.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You've come to the right spot, so put on your
safety glasses and hold on toyour tail.
This is the Science Podcast.
Hello everybody and welcomeback to the Science Podcast.
We hope you're happy andhealthy out there.
This is episode 26 of seasonseven.
Chris, how does it feel to beback at school, in the swing of
things?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It feels awesome and amazing.
I made it through the week.
It was a short week.
Monday was a holiday for us andI said to my grade 12s I'm like
woohoo, we made it through theweek and they were a little bit
tired, but at that time I wasn'ttired.
By the end of the day, though,I gave all my energy to my last
(01:07):
block class and then I sat downand I had a few moments of.
That was a week, that was awrap.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, it takes a lot of energy to be a teacher at any
level, because you you have tothe kids know when you're low
energy and if you want a lowenergy class, you get that by
being a low energy teacher.
And I know you both and I bothyou and I we are very animated
when we teach and it does makeit a long day, but it's a fun
(01:37):
day too.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, it does.
It takes a lot of effort.
No, it doesn't.
I get my energy from the kids,so when they're happy, I'm happy
.
No, it doesn't.
I get my energy from the kids,so when they're happy, I'm happy
.
And but you're right, whenyou're just sometimes grinding
through.
You were telling me about someconcept that you were teaching
and you just said, oh, I justhad to get through it, and now
that they've had some practice,they feel better.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, sometimes teaching the why is a big
stretch at the highest levels ofmath and science.
Because the kids are just like,wow, does this apply to
anything I need to know?
And it's because it's a puzzle.
Right, high levels of math arejust puzzles.
It's weight training for yourbrain.
And really at the highestlevels of science too, it's
(02:22):
critical thinking and weighttraining for your brain.
So when we send these kids offto university, they have pretty
strong muscles from all of thatweight training.
So I do get why some kids arelike why do we have to do this?
How does this relate toanything?
And I say you know what?
If you go to the gym and you dosome of those weightlifting
exercises, chances are you'llnever, ever have to do lift
(02:43):
weight like that in your life.
But it makes all of yourmuscles stronger.
So when you do somethingsimilar, it's easier.
They don't like that.
Oh, they don't like thatanalogy.
All right, what's on the showthis week?
We've got two really goodscience articles.
The first one is about how thecommon cold may protect folks
(03:05):
from COVID-19 infections, or atleast the severity of infections
.
I found that to be interestingso I'd like to get into it.
And our science article aboutpets is about canine obesity.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That just makes me think of how our first dog, our
first golden retriever, reallyliked food and when we took her
to the vet they said oof, she isoverweight and you need to lay
off the treats.
But they also said thatretrievers really can pack on
the pounds.
So, it'll be interesting totalk about that article and dog
(03:44):
obesity.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, all right, let's get to it.
There's no time like Sciencetime.
This week in science news,let's take a look at some really
interesting data about thecommon cold and COVID-19.
I just mentioned, the newschool year is starting and with
the new school year, you and Iare both going to get sick soon.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
No.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I refuse, Jason I never get sick.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You absolutely will get, whatever the little
gremlins have.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, there's a horrible, awful cold coming
within the next two months.
I'm going to get something fromthe kids.
I just always do and that'sbecause you and I interact with
hundreds and hundreds of kidsevery day, and they're high
school kids.
You'd think they'd be not gross, but they are gross because
they're kids and I know you're alittle bit less susceptible to
(04:39):
it than I am, but I have a mancold, I'm sure, coming down the
pipe.
This study examined whetherrecent respiratory virus
infections, specifically therhinovirus that's the cause of
the common cold, influenced therisk and severity of getting
SARS-CoV-2 infections.
This comes from HumanEpidemiology and the Response to
(05:00):
SARS-CoV-2, HEROES study.
The period it was looked at wasbetween May 2020 and February
2021, and nearly 1,400 UShouseholds participated giving
up nasal swabs, so this washappening during the pandemic,
obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So the new analysis that they have put forth on this
study.
They focused on more than 1, athousand participants and they
compared the coronaviruspositive and to the coronavirus
negative cases within 30 daysbefore a household's first COVID
infection.
Jason, interestingly, the mainfindings were having a cold in
(05:41):
the previous month led to abouta 50% lower risk of contracting
SARS-CoV-2 compared with thosewithout a cold in that same
period.
So there was a reduced risk ofinfection by having a cold in
the previous month.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Huge 50%, that's massive.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
That's massive.
And then also participants whodid have a recent cold showed
about a tenfold lower SARS-CoV-2viral load.
So, like you said, a milderCOVID-19 infection while they
were infected or a COVID-19response.
So that lower viral loadequaled reduced severity as the
(06:25):
immune system actually has lessvirus to fight off.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Now some of the possible mechanisms for this are
pretty interesting.
We have airway defense proteinsin our body and when you get
rhinovirus or the cold, thatinfection triggers the
production of these proteins inour airways.
Those proteins are part of ourimmune system.
They help fight off infectionand they appear to stay active.
(06:51):
That kind of pre-primes yourbody to protect against
SARS-CoV-2 if it gets in thereshortly after.
Now.
This is the most interestingthing.
I thought this is the mostinteresting part of it because I
think it's.
I have a lot of antidotalreporting on this from all of my
nieces and nephews.
It's about kids versus adults.
(07:13):
So kids had a higher activationof these airway defense
proteins after a cold and, waymore importantly, kids were also
way more likely to catch colds,contributing to their higher
rates of milder or asymptomaticCOVID-19 infections.
Do you remember this during thepandemic, like they always said
(07:35):
, kids can get COVID, obviously,but they weren't getting as
sick as the adults or like theywould be in a household with
COVID and they just wouldn't.
They would be asymptomatic whenthey didn't have any symptoms.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And I always found that interesting and even that
played out in the schools.
That's why our kids couldcontinue going to schools.
Unless there was an activeCOVID-19 case in a classroom,
then the whole class went hometo isolate.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And the antidotal reporting is we have, we've.
We're in a different phase ofour life than my siblings
because Adam just moved out, sowe're empty nesters.
Not going to lie, it's been.
This last week has been betterbut like the first couple of
weeks, it was super weirdknowing he had moved away.
But my siblings have littlekids and they are constantly
(08:23):
sick.
Like all the time we meet upwith them they're at least two
or three of them have somesniffy, terrible cold.
They're always have these awfulcolds.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I know it's terrible.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
But then I wonder if they felt the same way about us
when we had like when Duncan waslittle or when Adam was little.
Maybe Adam and Duncan werealways sick too.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
They weren't sick, our kids weren't sick.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Maybe they were.
You're probably right, jason, Iprobably just myself.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I don't like being sick, so I just say no, and my
body's okay, and I just thinkwhen your kid projectile vomits
across the living room, youblock it from your memory.
It's not something you want toremember.
And then you just remember thatnever happened, it's easier not
to remember.
It's easier to not to rememberthe projectile vomiting across
(09:15):
the living room.
Um, that's that happened, Chris.
Our kids have done that.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I know, but we should have a warning in case someone
listening has a sensitivestomach.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Sorry, you should have a warning about.
This is what's going to happenif you have kids.
Lots of projectile vomiting.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
It also happens with dogs.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
True Dogs are oh yeah .
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Right, okay, but anyways, chris, what's the
implications of this?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
So the broader implications are something
called cross protection, whichsuggests that common colds may
actually train the immune systemto mount a faster response
against new pathogens, includingSARS-CoV-2.
And that is really importantfrom a public health perspective
.
It helped explain why childrenoften experience milder COVID-19
(10:04):
outcomes compared to adults and, interestingly, you can
potentially apply this with theunderstanding of the airway
defense priming system.
That could inform strategies toboost innate immunity against
respiratory viruses that arebeyond COVID-19.
So it's like training for later.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Before people listening start to schlep their
kids all over the place and makethem hang out with kids who
have colds to potentiallyprotect them from COVID.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Like a chicken pox party, Jay.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, exactly, that was a terrible idea back in the
day.
Anyways, this was anobservational study, like they
pointed.
This pointed out in thelimitations of the study.
It doesn't show causation, itjust shows association.
It only focused on onerespiratory virus, that was
rhinovirus, and it didn't lookat others like influenza or RSV,
(10:59):
and this occurred early in thepandemic.
This was before vaccinationsoccurred, so it would be really
interesting to see what happenedas the vaccine started to roll
out.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
if, if it would, the data was just noise or it
actually was legit there and I'ma data person, so I would love
to see that data collection tobe able to compare it with the
different variants of COVID-19and in comparison to the
pre-vaccination era, for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Anyways, I thought it was just a fun little study.
I'm always gently teasing mysiblings that their kids are
always sick and they always makeme sick every time we hang out,
but maybe in a roundabout way,they're protecting me from
COVID-19.
That's science news for thisweek.
This week in pet science we'regoing to talk about canine
(11:52):
obesity and food motivation.
The stat in the study we weretalking about this with Marla
Smith, who is the who hasChesney, the service Roddy about
the fact that 50% of US dogsare overweight or obese and that
seems like such a shockingamount of dogs.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And that's one of the most common canine health
concerns is that obesity?
Because it impacts, like I saidto Marla.
I said you are what you eat andunfortunately, having that
extra weight or that obesitycauses canine health concerns.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, a whole host of them Higher levels of diabetes,
arthritis.
You have those joint issuescardiovascular disease, skin
problems, cardiovascular disease, skin problems and the lifetime
and the lifespan studies showthat overweight dogs may live
two and a half years less thandogs at an ideal weight.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
We try to keep our dogs really lean and we get
comments on that like beaker islike a lean golden retriever she
is, she's, she's so strong andso athletic, uh, but she is lean
like there's not an ounce offat on that girl and the vet was
so impressed because, how Imentioned earlier about callan
(13:12):
and the pitfalls of a retrievergetting some chonk junk in the
trunk, I know and I definitely Imiss that dog I know, and
reading and learning, that theymay have two and a half years
less life than dogs at the idealweight.
But you know what?
We got the weight off of her,like she was chonky for a little
bit of time until we were madeaware that she's a bit.
(13:33):
She has a little bit too muchlove handles to handle.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
For a while, Duncan was giving her two breakfasts.
Yeah, exactly, and that Ouroldest son Duncan would help
with the dog and Adam was atoddler when we got.
He would have been by the timeCallan got Chonky like what four
.
He'd been in any position tostart feeding the dog.
Anyways, it's not his fault.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
No but yeah.
So when I took Beaker I'm and Itake Bunsen and Bernoulli, of
course to the vet.
I always ask how are theirweight we want to make?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
sure that they are healthy weight so that they can
live their best life.
Yeah, and Bernoulli and Bunsenthough they look burly, they are
trimmed too Like they're not.
There's no chunk on those guysat all.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
No.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, bernoulli is he , would you remember?
Let me start again like afterBunsen's surgery.
Do you remember feeling likehow muscly he is?
He's like a body, but he was abodybuilder under all that fur.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, and he lost 10 pounds overnight with his
prototaped worm cyst.
It's like weight loss surgery,but not yeah, and it was weird
because I'm like it's weird thathe's gaining weight because we
had not changed his diet oranything and we should have
clued in that just a second here.
(14:50):
He shouldn't weigh this much.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Well, it was only about what?
Seven pounds more, but stillthat was.
We weren't changing anything.
You're right, that was odd.
Anyways, the data from thestudy comes from owner surveys,
their feeding practices, theperceptions of their body weight
and food motivation, andveterinarian medical records,
including body condition scoresor BCSs.
All of this was published inthe American Journal of
(15:15):
Veterinary Research and it comesfrom a massive cohort of dogs,
so this is one of those goodstudies where they actually have
huge amounts of animals 50,000dogs, the DAP cohort, one of the
largest canine aging studiesworldwide.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
So you know what makes a difference Breed and
genetics.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yep, the sporting group dogs like retrievers and
spaniels and setters.
They showed a 10% higher foodmotivation than average, and
having that interest in foodmeans that they're hungry.
And Labrador retrievers inparticular are already known to
have a genetic mutation.
It's called the POMC genemutation and that's linked to
(16:00):
them not feeling full right.
It's an impaired signals thatthey're like oh, I'm not
satisfied, and so they have ahigher risk of obesity.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, interestingly enough, they're finding that
similar gene mutation in humanswho are obese.
That you just never feel full,you're hungry all the time.
That's like me.
I'm hungry all the time.
You like me, I'm hungry all thetime you do enjoy food, yeah
yeah, I gotta watch.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
I gotta watch what I eat a bit the reason why we see
it is because retrievers andspaniels are among the most
common us breeds.
Because there are so many ofthem, the breed predisposition
has a major population leveleffect.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Dogs were more food motivated, possibly reflecting
reduced exercise opportunitiesand being more bored.
Multi-dog households increasedfood motivation.
Yeah, we're a multi-doghousehold and some owners often
resort to free feeding or justleaving a bunch of food
available.
That may cause competition, andthen you have scavenging and
(17:06):
overeating and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I've heard that too, though Families that say oh, we
had six boys, and if you didn'teat and scarf down your food,
you didn't get any food.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah, you had to eat quickly or you got nothing.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yes, Did that happen in your household?
You have two boys and two girls.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Well, I don't know, I forget I'd have to talk to my
dad.
Maybe he wouldn't even remember.
Like when I was a teenager, Iate a lot like teenage boys.
Well, we had Adam and he wouldgo through four liters of milk
in two days.
It was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, and Duncan didn't eat as much Weird.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
No, that's true, he did not.
He ate a lot of chewy bars.
Oh yeah, that's, true, he wouldgo through 60 chewy bars in a
week.
Yeah, I don't know.
You're onto something, though,like a bunch of teenage boys in
the same house.
You better get your food oryou're getting scraps.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
So, jason, you might be wondering how the body
condition scoring or that BCSworks, and it's on a one to nine
scale, with five as ideal.
So what the veterinarian doesis they feel the ribs, the hips
and the waist, and it's a keyclinical tool, but it's actually
underused in practice.
So dogs that are involved insports or working activities,
(18:24):
their owners were more likely toknow about and apply BCS, which
highlights how owner engagementand education drive better
monitoring and maybe better foodchoices for their dogs.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Now if the vet does realize the dog's overweight and
suggests weight management,it's not going to work if the
owners don't follow it, becausethe dog eats what you feed it.
And if you're supposed to feedit a bit different and you don't
, that's really on you, not thedog, and there's sometimes
miscommunication between vetsand owners.
That sometimes are frequentbarrier.
(19:01):
Also, breeds like retrieversmay need stricter portion
controls or individualizedfeeding regimens, like they may
not be able to follow what's onthe bag of food.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
That's what I noticed too, because we would feed her,
callan, what was on the bag,but she was chonky, so we had to
not follow those instructionsand it's not like she didn't get
a lot of exercise like I.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I took that dog, I did everything with Callan.
She was my Bunsen before therewas Bunsen like.
We went on walks through thecreek.
We went on snowshoeing and Ididn't I don't think I snowshoed
back, then I skied with her allyou had cross-country skis.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, yeah, I skied with her all the time you had
cross country skis.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, yeah, I skied with her all the time.
Yeah, exercise enrichment andthat structured feeding, which
means you have a meal at six andyou have a meal at a certain
time of the day and you actuallymeasure the portions, you don't
eyeball it.
Those are key strategies.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Another thing is using food puzzles.
Yeah, so the dog works fortheir food.
Yeah, all our dogs love to do.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, all our dogs love food puzzles.
They eat really fast but wehave them on, not kibble.
They're on a raw food diet soyou know how those.
There's a feeding dish so theyeat slower.
I've seen that for some dogsbut that would be gross for the
food we give them.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
But Gord does it with Doc.
He has the feeding dish and hehas raw food.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Oh interesting, we can try it.
We just have to wash it everytime.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
They lick their bowls clean, Jay.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
There's still bacteria on there.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
There is.
You should wash your dog'sbowls.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yes, you should bulls ?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yes, you should.
So if we're talking aboutweight management, there is a
broader context and importancefor talking about this or
raising awareness or educatingabout obesity in dogs, the
companion animal obesity hasbeen called the number one
nutritional disorder in dogs.
Like in humans, canine obesitydoes arise from a complex web of
genetic, behavioral,environmental and social factors
(21:07):
.
So you can't just blame it onthe free feeding, and studies
like this one aim to guide vetstowards a personalized weight
management program that's moretailored to breed tendencies or
the environment, and playing onthe owner awareness as well.
So working in team to help yourdog live its best life at the
(21:31):
right size and weight.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
And the biggest advice I can give is to make
sure one of your kids isn'tgiving them a second breakfast
after you just give them abreakfast, sure one of your kids
isn't giving them a secondbreakfast, after you just give
them a breakfast.
That's a lot of calories for adog, a big old second breakfast,
though I'm sure Pippin and Marywould enjoy that.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Bernoulli too.
You fed him supper and then helooked at me and he was standing
by the fridge and he looked atthe fridge and he looked at me
and he looked at the fridgebecause he knows that's where
his food comes from and hethought he could trick me yeah,
yeah, he loves food so much.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
They all do bunsen, beaker and bernoulli.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
They're super food motivated that makes it easy to
train.
That makes them easy to trainbecause if they were husky and
stubborn?
Although bunsen is selective,it has to be a high value treat
sometimes before he makes achoice, sometimes to do things.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yes, if the choice is particularly sucky for him.
Yeah, oh, hey, we're going tobrush you.
Here's some kibble he's no.
Nope, that's not a good enough.
If you have a peanut butterKong, he's okay.
Maybe, maybe it's gotta bepretty high value for some
things he doesn't like.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, yeah, he doesn't like being brushed.
Bernoulli loves it though.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I know he's so weird.
He's like the weirdest.
He's such an odd dog and that'swhat makes him cool.
All right, that's pet sciencefor this week.
That's it for this week.
Show Thanks for coming backweek after week to listen to the
Science Podcast.
And a shout out to all the TopDogs that's the top tier of our
Patreon community the Pop Hack.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
You can sign up.
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