JAMA network open: why do antibiotics affect childhood obesity?

January 24, 2020 / bioin / - children who receive multiple antibiotic prescriptions early in life may be prone to obesity, according to new research In the first study, the researchers found that four year olds who had been prescribed more than nine antibiotics in their lifetime were twice as likely to be obese as their peers who had not been exposed to antibiotics A second study found a similar trend But when the researchers compared siblings, the link between antibiotics and obesity was no longer significant, suggesting that other factors in the family might be able to explain the phenomenon (image source: www Pixabay Com) experts say it is not clear whether the use of antibiotics will directly affect children's weight But the research emphasizes the necessity of rational use of antibiotics There are many cases of abuse of antibiotics in our life, such as the common cold Colds are caused by viruses, and antibiotics that kill bacteria are useless to them Why do antibiotics affect children's weight? Meghan Azad, an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba in Canada, said the idea was not far fetched Azad points out that in the agricultural sector, farmers have long used antibiotics to fatten their livestock, and laboratory studies have shown the reason for this effect - changes in the gut microbiome Microbiome refers to trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the body and help it run smoothly Intestinal microorganisms are involved in the storage and release of calories in food Theoretically, changes in microbiome may lead to excessive weight gain Azad said the latest research supports the idea that early development of the intestinal microbiome may affect the risk of obesity Grant's team tracked more than 5100 New Zealand children between the ages of 4 and 5 Almost all of them (95%) have been prescribed antibiotics, and 9% of them have obesity symptoms Overall, children who received four or more antibiotic prescriptions weighed more than those who received fewer prescriptions Children who received at least 10 prescriptions were 2.4 times more likely to be obese than those who did not receive antibiotics In a second study, led by Dr Karen Leong of the University of Auckland, researchers looked at data on nearly 133000 mothers and their young children Similarly, the more antibiotics children use early in life, the greater the risk of obesity However, when researchers compared siblings, the link was lost Information source: are antiotics a recipe for obsity in childhood? Original source: Karen S w leong.et al Associations of pre national and childhood antibiotic exposure with obsity at age 4 years JAMA network open 2020; 3 (1): e1919681 Doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.19681