Common Antibiotics Increase Obesity Risk in Kids

A study published in the journal Nature Communications supports previous studies suggesting that commonly used antibiotics in children increases the risk of obesity in the future.

According to Time, scientists experimented the effects of antibiotics on mice pups for the study. The research was conducted by researchers at the NYU Langone Medical Center. They linked their findings to a previous study that focused on childhood obesity.

In 2014, a study published in JAMA Pediatrics reveals that children who were exposed to antibiotics before the age of 2 had an increased risk of obesity by age 5, especially those who took four or more courses.

The study also found that only broad-spectrum antibiotics were linked to childhood obesity. Broad-spectrum antibiotics cater to the elimination of different kinds of bacteria found in the body, explains Time.

In the recent study, researches administered three antibiotic regimens to the mice, which are frequently given to children: amoxicillin, a type of macrolides called tylosin, and a combination of the two.

Science Daily states that amoxicillin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, while NLM confirms the same fact about macrolides medications.

After giving the mice pups several dosages of the antibiotic regimens in separate intervals, they were sacrificed and their guts were analyzed. Researchers compared the treated mice with those only given placebos.

Scientists observed that amoxicillin greatly affected bone growth, which is important to height development, reports Science Daily. Amoxicillin resulted in the development of abnormally large bones in the treated mice, states Time.

Even more worrisome was the effect of tylosin in the treated mice. The microlide was discovered to have a more significant long-term effect on weight gain, due to its impact on microbiome maturation.

Mirror UK explains that microbiome are bugs in the intestinal tract which are essential parts of a healthy immune system. While both forms of antibiotics used in the study disrupted microbiome maturation, tylosin's effect had an even greater impact than amoxicillin.

In addition, tylosin also affected the adaptability of treated mice to environmental changes, like an altered diet.

Dr. Martin Blaser, professor of medicine and microbiology at NYU Langone Medical Center, adds that both drugs also changed the specific functions of a certain number of microbial genes.

"If what we found in mice is true for human children, then this is yet another reason to be cautious in using antibiotics... The question is, what proportion of [kids] really need antibiotics?" Blaser commented.