Household cleaning products could grill your children

Household cleaning products could lead to overweight in children by destroying their intestinal bacteria, warned researchers.

Canadian scientists found that children who lived in households where disinfectants were used at least once a week had a higher body mass index (BMI) at age three than children who entered school. less regular contact with these products. In contrast, children living in homes where environmentally friendly substances were used were less likely to be overweight.

Over the last two decades, more and more households have used disinfectants, noted the authors, and researchers are working to unravel what it means for children's health. This includes their gut microbiota – the bacteria that populate the gut – whose increasing evidence suggests that they can affect everything from our mental health to our risk of developing heart disease.

Scientists from the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association studied the intestinal flora of 757 babies aged three to four months who were part of the Canadian cohort of longitudinal development of healthy infants. Fecal samples from children were collected at the beginning of the study to reveal the bacteria that lived in their intestines. The researchers also asked parents how often cleaning products were used at home and visited homes to check. They then reassessed these children at the age of one and three and measured their weight.

Cleansing products have been associated with childhood obesity. Getty Images

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The study found that a child's gut microbiota was different depending on the cleaning products used at home. Children frequently exposed to disinfectants, for example, had higher levels of Lachnospiraceae bacteria in their intestines than other participants, while Haemophilus levels decreased. In contrast, enterobacterial populations have fallen in children exposed to environmentally friendly products.

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When a child's weight was measured at age three, the BMI score was highest in children who came into contact with disinfectants, while environmentally friendly products

Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta, led the study and conducted a project on how an infant's gut microbiome affects her health. She explained to Newsweek that Lachnospiraceae are normally found in the intestinal microbiota of humans, but their concentrations are initially low in infants three to four months of age, and then increase when children grow up. "Therefore, our results concern the levels or" dose "of Lachnospiraceae and not their presence or absence in young infants."

Children raised in households using green cleaning products appeared to be less exposed to overweight. Getty Images

Their results were reflected in animal experiments in which stool samples of newborn piglets continually exposed to aerosol disinfectants were tested. Mice with higher levels of Lachnospiraceae in their gut microbiota stored more fat and had greater resistance to insulin, she said.

Kozyrskyj acknowledged that the study may have been hampered by the fact that the parents declared their use of disinfectant and that they did not note the brand names.

But the team can not be sure that other factors have not contributed to a child's weight, Kozyrskyj said.

"Infants growing up in households where green cleaners are widely used had much lower levels of intestinal microbacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, however, we found no evidence that these changes in the intestinal microbiome reduced the risk of intestinal microbiota. 39; obesity. "

"One possible explanation is that mothers who used environmentally friendly products during pregnancy had a more nutritious diet and a healthier pregnancy. As a result, their healthy microbiome has been transmitted to their newborns, resulting in both a lower risk that their children will have lower levels of enterobacteria three to four months later and overweight. "

Nevertheless, Kozyrskyj believes that the evidence gathered by his team is sufficient to suggest that the overuse of disinfectants should be avoided, as it could harm the human microbiota.

"When infants are involved, changing the composition of the microbiota at a critical time of development can affect the immune system," she said.