Infants: Early Antibiotic Exposure and Obesity
Exposure to antibiotics before 6 months of age was associated with an increased risk of obesity at age 2 in a study of Latino infants in a low-income urban community. The harmful effects of antibiotics on the healthy gut microbiome during this sensitive developmental period couldincrease the risk of obesity, according to an article published in Childhood Obesity(1).
A study of 97 children
Obesity has become a major public health problem. In 2011-2014, 17.0% of all American children were obese, with 21.9% prevalence among Latino children.
Annette Ville and her team (from the University of California, San Francisco), studied the antibiotic exposure (type and frequency) of several infants, from birth to two years of age. They also studied the associated dietary intakes. For all these data, several mothers participated in the study by agreeing to transmit, by maternal self-declaration, different questionnaires at different periods of the child’s life (at 24 hours, 4-6 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and finally 2 years). The sample consisted of 97 children.
The studywas only carriedout on low-income Latino children, in an urbanized neighborhood that the researchers determine as “high risk” (Editor’s note: without us being perfectly able to explain this term “high-risk” used by the researchers themselves in their study(1))
The researchers demonstrated ahigher (statistically significant) risk of developing rapid weight gain and obesity at age 2 in infants exposed to antibiotics during the first six months of life.
The editor of Childhood Obesity relativive
« Although recent cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have shown a relationship between early antibiotic exposure and childhood obesity, a recent secondary analysis of a random sample did not detect such relationships. Clearly, more research is needed,” says Tom Baranowski, editor-in-chief ofChildhood Obesity magazine.
« The work of Dr. Ville and colleagues extends this work to Latina families and highlights fairly significant links between childhood obesity and early antibiotic use, even after controlling for potential confounding variables. While this is obviously not the last word in this important area of research, it provides an important piece of the puzzle. »
Clearly, Tom Baranowski remains cautious: if this study makes it possible to move forward on the subject, it cannot, on its own, create a direct and universal link between early exposure to antibiotics and childhood obesity. It should be recalled that the study was carried out on a small sample of children (97) and on a very targeted population.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.