Antibiotics Given To Young Children Can Cause Them To Be Heavier When Older:
BBC News gave us this report on the new-found link between Antibiotics and Weight-gain at around 2 AM New Zealand time on the 23 August 2012. This information will be included within the context of this article.
The question of whether or not antibiotics and vaccines affect the health of our children is a hot debate, and has been for a long time now.
There is the question of whether or not vaccinations can cause autism – and there are many parents today, including some doctors, who believe that their children, who were healthy before vaccination, developed autism after being vaccinated.
Then there is the question of whether or not vaccinations are really effective, and how long a vaccination will protect a person for.
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The trouble with administering antibiotics willy-nilly to our children is that, in most cases, we won’t know about any negative effects of these drugs until our children are grown up…… when the damage may have been done.
In time, the original vaccinations may have a negative effect on your child’s health, and giving boosters, which seems to be a current trend in some communities, might even make these problems much more acute.
The BBC report said that new research points to antibiotics as having a marked effect on weight when they are given to very young children. Vaccinations, which are antibiotics given for the purpose of preventing a disease before it occurs, may in fact cause obesity in later life.
The research so far shows that children who had been given antibiotics between birth and the age of five months had an increased weight between the age of 10 and 20 months. After the age of 2 years, after receiving antibiotics/vaccinations during the first five months of life, 22% of the children are likely to be overweight.
Exposure To Antibiotics Affects Healthy Bacteria: This may not be news to those already aware of the damage caused by antibiotics to the necessary microbes which exist in the body. However, it is welcome news from BBC that scientists have ‘come out’ with the idea that antibiotics do affect healthy bacteria, and that this disruption may even cause obesity.
Scientists say in this new research said that the reason for antibiotics affecting the weight is because digestion is affected: Antibiotics and vaccine antibiotics too, affect the healthy bacteria in the body, most importantly, in the stomach, and in the bowel where the absorption of food takes place. Antibiotics also affect the microbes on our skin, and these microbes, which outnumber the body’s number of cells, is also of interest to scientists studying body metabolism. This new study is thought to be the first census taken of microbes living on the surface of the body.
Scientists are even experimenting with the idea of faecal transplants, to give back to the body some of the bacteria which antibiotics have taken away. Faecal transplants have been done with the idea of regenerating the healthy bacteria in the gut. This idea seems very strange: Why not abandon standard vaccinations which are so problematic to the health, and use homeopathic and herbal and vitamin alternatives instead to counteract the childhood illnesses? These alternatives do not interfere with the important microbes living in the body, which makes them a safer option.
The trouble is that these modalities, especially homeopathy, are jealously guarded by the pharmaceutical companies who want to remain dominant in the field of medicinal drugs. These alternative remedies are not given a chance to prove themselves in the orthodox arena of medicinal drugs.
Back to the research on Antibiotics:
The International Journal of Obesity published the findings of a study of 11,532 infants. This study showed that when these children were given antibiotics under the age of six months, they were likely to be heavier than normal in later years.
So weight gain may be a product of using antibiotics. especially when they are given at a young age, because of their interference with normal bowel function and digestion.
However, they say more work is needed to confirm there is a link.
In this study, children who had antibiotics between birth and the age of five months were slightly heavier between the age of 10 and 20 months. After 38 months they were 22% more likely to be overweight.
Dr Leonardo Trasande from New York University School of Medicine, said that unhealthy diet and lack of exercise were the common factors given as the cause of obesity, “yet increasingly, studies suggest it’s more complicated”.
Dr Leonardo Trasande said that “Microbes in our intestines may play critical roles in how we absorb calories, and exposure to antibiotics, especially early in life, may kill off healthy bacteria that influence how we absorb nutrients into our bodies, and would otherwise keep us lean.” Note: This theory is NOT a new one, but it is good to see the orthodox medical people acknowledging that this is so.
Microbiologist Dr Cormac Gahan, from University College Cork, said that weight could be affected when the balance of gut bacteria is changed…..that this could have ‘”a direct effect on energy extraction” or by ‘”influencing hormones”.
He indicated that there was more work to be done in the area before definite conclusions could be drawn.
Many naturopaths and alternative doctors have had similar theories for years: There is much written by such alternative medics and natural practitioners which state that antibiotics cause too much havoc in the system to warrant their extensive use during childhood.