Household cleaners, disinfectants related to obesity, overweight children

Obesity affects nearly one in six children in the United States, according to new data from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State of Obesity Report. And new findings from the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association reveal that there could be more contribution to this statistic than overeating.

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Overweight children are about five times more likely to be obese or overweight than adults, which increases the risk of chronic diseases and health problems such as diabetes, hypertension and related cancers. to obesity. While some people are more likely to be obese – older women, Hispanic men, and black women – new research suggests that postnatal exposure to some household disinfectants may be related to weight loss. ;overweight.

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The results, released on Monday in CMAJ, focus on data from the Canadian Longitudinal Development of Healthy Infants Study, which began in 2009.

The researchers closely followed participants from mid-pregnancy to childhood and adolescence and examined fecal samples for infants aged 3 to 4 months, in addition to responses to the survey. investigation of their home and the use of disinfectants.

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Of the 757 infants studied, 80% came from households using disinfectants every week, usually multi-surface cleaners. The focus on cleanliness, according to the researchers, has led to expanding the use of products.

In the study, they noted an increase in an intestinal bacteria called Lachnospiracées in the stools of infants with increased use of disinfectants or ecological cleaners, but they found no similar association when washing detergents without the ingredients that destroy the bacteria.

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It is known "from animal studies that higher levels of Lachnospiracées have been associated with greater resistance to body fat and insulin, "said lead author Anita Kozyrskyj in a podcast on research.

According to the results, infants in households that used antimicrobial disinfectants weekly were twice as likely to have Lachnospiracées and then, after 3 years, they were also more likely to have a higher body mass index than children in households where disinfectants were used less frequently.

In addition to the higher levels of Lachnospiracées, infants from households frequented by disinfectants had Haemophilus and Clostridium bacteria, a combined pattern similar to that of children with eczema.

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"High faecal abundance of Lachnospiracées (More precisely Blautia) simultaneously with lowered Haemophilus is also a signature of diabetes, as shown by a study of 11-year-old children, "the researchers wrote.

"These findings suggest that the gut microbiota was the culprit in the association between the use of disinfectant and overweight," Kozyrskyj added in the podcast interview.

The intestinal microbiota, intestinal flora or gastrointestinal microbiota refer to the "complex community of microorganisms that live in the gut," according to the National Institutes of Health.

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"Indeed, concerns about the potential of antibacterial products to be too effective or even toxic have motivated the use of" green "or" green "alternatives, the researchers said.

But although ecological alternatives have shown different microbiota and lower levels of bacteria EnterobacteriaceaeIn addition to lower rates of overweight children, the study authors did not establish a link between intestinal microbiota modification and the reduction of the risk of obesity or overweight in children.

Due to the lack of convincing data, Kozyrskyj told CNN she was not ready to recommend ecological alternatives, but she personally changed the popular disinfectants with DIY vinegar cleaning solutions.

Kozyrskyj and colleagues concluded that antibacterial cleansing products "have the ability to alter the microbiome of the environment and alter the risk of overweight in the child," but further research on the mechanisms

Read the complete study at cmaj.ca.