Children exercise during a weight-loss summer camp in China. (Photo : Reuters)
A new research study reveals that children who take antibiotics will gain weight quickly than those who do not consume medicines. The study also highlighted that the weight gain owing to antibiotics can often be progressive and cumulative in the long term.
The study was conducted by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the research findings were recently published in the International Journal Of Obesity.
The study tracked more than 160,000 children who had been prescribed with antibiotics since childhood. The research conducted among young Pennsylvanian youth revealed, that those aged 15 who had been prescribed antibiotics more than seven times in their childhood, weighed three pounds more than those who had not taken the medicine.
Physician and epidemiologist, Dr Brian S. Schwartz, who headed the study, told The Wall Street Journal, that antibiotics consumed at any age contribute to weight gain.
Dr. Schwartz's research team examined records of children, aged three to 18, enrolled in Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania between 2001 and 2012. The accumulated information includes antibiotic use, body-mass index, race, sex and other factors.
The researchers studied the BMI trajectory for children who did not take antibiotics and compared it with those who did. The study revealed that children who took antibiotics put on weight but then lost it later on. However, with additional treatment, the children's weight gain became cumulative and progressive as a pose to the group of youngsters who did not consume antibiotics.
"This suggests, that this effect will not stop at age 18 and what is happening is permanent," Dr. Schwartz said.
While the study is the first to examine the link between antibiotics and weight gain, the study has had its limitations.
The research did not consider situations of antibiotic use by mothers during pregnancy and researchers did not have access to consistent health information throughout the childhoods of the youngsters.
Despite these limitations, the team remains confident of its findings owing to a subgroup of youngsters, with in-depth records revealing a more pronounced correlation between weight gain and antibiotics.
