COPENHAGEN, Denmark (The Adobo Chronicles, Berlin Bureau) – Danish researchers at the University of Copenhagen looking at the effects of global warming have uncovered a startling phenomenon involving diet and nutrition.

The researchers found that high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in humans causes weight gain, and sometimes, obesity.

Researcher Lars-Georg Hersoug stumbled on a weird anomaly while studying cardiovascular health and obsesity. Over a 22-year period, both thin and fat people put on weight, and the increase was proportionally the same.

CO2 appears to make our blood more acidic, which influences our brain to want to eat more. Hersoug surmised that excess CO2 in the atmosphere might be affecting hormones in the brain known as orexin neurons. Orexins stimulate eating, wakefulness and energy expenditure.

Danish researchers at the University of Copenhagen conducted further testing. Under controlled conditions, men with the greater amount of CO2 in their blood ate 6 percent more food than men in climate rooms with less CO2.

The Danish findings prompted Weight Watchers and other diet experts to throw out the popular low-carb diet and replace it with low-carbon diet.

The low-carbon diet does not involve any special food intake or avoidance of any food items or ingredients.  Rather, it promotes the use of surgical face masks , 24 hours a day, to avoid exposure to excessive amounts of carbon dioxide, which ultimately will reduce food cravings.

Have scientists found the key to reducing both global warming and obesity?