How dangerous is it to give children antibiotics?

Children who were treated with antibiotics in the earlychildhood, gaining weight significantly faster than their peers who did not take such drugs. New research has shown that the use of antibiotics can have a permanent effect on weight gain, which continues into adulthood.

What are dangerous antibiotics?

Having studied the medical data of more than 160 thousand childrenScientists have discovered that healthy 15-year-olds who were treated with antibiotics seven or more times in childhood, averaged 1.3 kilograms more than their peers who did not take any antibiotics at all.

The amount of evidence supporting the linkbetween the use of antibiotics and weight, is steadily increasing. And this applies not only to people. In agriculture, antibiotics are used as a growth promoter for livestock.

Use of antibiotics at any age contributes to weight gain, said study lead author Brian S. Schwartz of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

Scientists suggest that antibiotics kill alonetypes of bacteria, leaving others in the intestines that break down food in a different way. This leads to a permanent change in the microflora of the gastrointestinal tract, according to the study.

According to experts, this is a change in microflora.The stomach can lead to an increase in the number of calories in the nutrients absorbed by the person. There is also evidence of the effect of antibiotics on the body before birth. A recent study by Danish scientists conducted on thousands of schoolchildren showed that mothers use antibiotics during pregnancy increases the risk of obesity in a child.

Did you know that the most powerful antibiotics are inside us?

Antibiotic replacement

Certainly, with some dangerous bacterialdiseases, the use of antibiotics is advisable. But scientists fear that parents often give their children antibiotics when they are not needed. In such cases, experts advise to follow the recommendations of the doctor. In addition, it is often difficult to find real antibiotics - too many drugs are now divorced, and without professional intervention it is not so easy to figure them out. And giving a fake drug to a child is very dangerous.

If the doctor says you can do without antibiotics, discard them.

Are there alternatives? Now a group of scientists from George Mason University is conducting full-scale studies of drugs that can be the safest alternative to antibiotics. New drugs are based on bacteriophages. These are special viruses that selectively infect certain bacterial cells. Once inside the cell, viruses multiply and eventually cause the death of the latter.

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