Giving children antibiotics before age of two ‘raises the risk of obesity’

BABIES and toddlers given antibiotics are much more likely to become obese, a major study suggests.

A review of over 300,000 children found those prescribed antibiotics during their first two years of life had a 26% higher risk of obesity.

The longer that children had been taking the drugs and the more classes of antibiotics they had taken, the greater the risk.

Girls given four or more types of the drugs were 50% more likely to become obese.

Almost three-quarters of all the children studied had been given antibiotics before their second birthday. But of the 47,000 who went on to become obese, nearly 90% had been pre333,353 scribed either antibiotics or antacids. Researchers say these powerful drugs can kill off important bacteria in the gut which help to regulate body weight.

Dr Cade Nylund from the University of the Health Sciences in Maryland, senior author of the study, said: ‘There are too many unnecessary antibiotics being prescribed to infants who may not need them, for things like common colds.

‘We have to be careful about medications which might risk obesity because people who are obese in childhood typically increase their weight in adulthood, putting them in danger of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart problems.’

The study examined antibiotic and antacid prescriptions for children in their first two years and followed their medical records up to the age of eight.

The average risk factor for obesity rose by 26% for antibiotic prescriptions, but by only 1 or 2% with antacids. This is thought to be because antibiotics kill off gut bacteria quicker.

The survey showed there was a particular risk for boys and for children born by C-section, who are believed to miss out on important gut bacteria transferred through the birth canal.

However, British experts remain sceptical about the study, which is published in the journal Gut.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard of the Royal College of GPs said it was ‘extremely interesting’ but did not prove antibiotics caused obesity.

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