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By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, November 1, 2018 (HealthDay News) – A new study suggests that babies who have been prescribed antibiotics before the age of 2 are more likely to become obese.
Acid reflux medications can also increase the risk, although this relationship is not as strong.
The results come from monitoring infertility medication history and the incidence of childhood obesity from hundreds of thousands of children to age 8. All had been cared for by the US military health system.
The researchers hypothesized that the links between these two types of drugs could impact the fragile microbial environment (microbiome) present in the intestines of a growing child.
"We have not evaluated the microbiological status of these children," said Dr. Cade Nylund, author of the study, Lieutenant-Colonel of the US Air Force Medical Corps. "And it was an observational study, so we can only demonstrate the results of an association, not a specific cause.
"So we assume that this has to do with the changes in a child's microbiome caused by these drugs," he added. "But it could also simply be the result of an infection, or having a fever, with or without antibiotic treatment, or perhaps with the psychosocial dynamics of a family." We do not know not yet."
Nylund said the most important thing is to ensure that children take the medications they need, but not when it is not justified.
For example, Nylund noted that acid reflux medications, such as histamine inhibitors and proton pump inhibitors, "are often prescribed in infants when they are not indicated." Acid reflux is normal in infants and so is not really a good reason to use them on reflux drugs, and most infants get out of the problem after 12 months. "
Nylund, on the other hand, acknowledged that "antibiotics play an important role in the treatment of infections, and they will always do it.
"And I would certainly hate that a parent is not treating a child with antibiotics for an infection related to obesity," he added.
Continued
In the study, published November 1 in the newspaper Intestineresearchers followed about 333,000 children born between 2006 and 2013.
Before the age of 2 years, more than 241 000 antibiotics had been prescribed. Approximately 40 000 histamine inhibitors had been prescribed, and more than 11 000 proton pump inhibitors. 000 children had been prescribed for the three drugs.
On the basis of an average of four pediatrician visits after the age of 2 and up to the age of 8, investigators determined that nearly 47,000 children (14 %) became obese. Of these, about 9,600 had never received an antibiotic or acid reflux medication during their childhood; the rest had.
After comparing the medication history with the incidence of obesity, the research team concluded that the risk of obesity in children at the age of 3 increased 26%. This risk increased with the intake of antibiotics for a long time, and among infants who took drugs in several classes of antibiotics.
Acid reflux medications also appeared to increase the risk of obesity in children, although the link was termed "low".
Ruchi Gupta, an experienced scientist in child health research at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, said the results are interesting because they raise "questions about factors such as antibiotics and drugs that alter the intestinal microbiome and can potentially influence other health problems. "She was not involved in the study.
But Gupta warned that for the moment the results should only be considered as an "important association". More research will be needed "to really understand the cause and effect because it is a complex disease influenced by many environmental, behavioral and genetic factors," she said. .
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