the importance of gut health in children

In keeping with my current theme of GUT HEALTH, today we are going to look at brand new research that reinforces information we are (or at least should be) already aware of.  It’s not news that ANTIBIOTICS are associated with OBESITY (HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE).  This is because your MICROBIOME is intimately associated with your weight, and Antibitotics wipe out the strains of Gut Flora that help down-regulate your BMI (HERE).  Commercial beef growers have understood this for decades (HERE), and I have previously shown you it’s true in people as well (particularly in infants and young children).

Brand new research from this week’s issue of The International Journal of Obesity (Antibiotic Use and Childhood Body Mass Index Trajectory) as well as a study from the July issue of the same journal (Prenatal Exposure to Systemic Antibacterials and Overweight and Obesity in Danish Schoolchildren: A Prevalence Study) reinforce this concept. 

After looking at the medical records of almost 164,000 school-aged children, the first study (it was done at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore) stated that, “Higher cumulative orders [numbers of Antibiotic prescriptions] were associated with progressive weight gain. Among children with an antibiotic order in the prior year and at least seven lifetime orders, antibiotics (all classes combined) were associated with weight gain. When antibiotic classes were evaluated separately, the largest weight gain was associated with macrolide use.  Antibiotic use may influence weight gain throughout childhood and not just during the earliest years as has been the primary focus of most prior studies.”  Macrolides are the drugs that end in “icin” or “ycin” and are said to be ‘potent inhibitors‘ of the P-450 CYTOCHROME SYSTEM.  Foul this system up and you will have more problems than you can shake a stick at — particularly if you are a female (see link). 

In the Dutch study, the area of interest was maternal use of Antibiotics on children’s weight (Antibiotic use during pregnancy).  In this study, nearly 10,000 children were followed, with the results being simple and straightforward; “Prenatal exposure to systemic antibacterials is associated with an increased risk of overweight and obesity at school age.”  In other words, if mom takes Antibiotics while she is pregnant, Junior’s odds of being Obese increase. 

What does all this mean?  It means that you, as a parent (or maybe a grandparent), have to realize that Antibiotics are one of the single worst things you can do for your family’s health — particularly your children.  Once you realize that SUGAR FEEDS INFECTION, dealing with acute illness (most of which is VIRAL ANYWAY) becomes far easier.  Every study on Antibiotics is scarier than the one that came out before it.  And for heaven’s sake, stop saying, “WE HAVEN’T TAKEN THAT MANY“.  For more information on how to regain your health if you have destroyed it with Antibiotics, GO HERE.