Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

[cjppjc]

http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/afp/g...-obesity-study


Giving babies antibiotics before the age of six months could cause them to be chubby children, according to a study published Tuesday.
"We typically consider obesity an epidemic grounded in unhealthy diet and exercise, yet increasingly studies suggest it's more complicated," said co-author Leonardo Trasande of the New York University School of Medicine.
"Microbes in our intestines may play critical roles in how we absorb calories, and exposure to antibiotics, especially early in life, may kill off healthy bacteria that influence how we absorb nutrients into our bodies, and would otherwise keep us lean

[cjppjc]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

Nobody thought this study was interesting? I'm was thinking about all those young children I see who are so overweight. They must have self esteem issues, problems with their peers. All these larger kids can't all be eating more and exercising less than their friends.

[charliebrown]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

The healthcare complex seems to try and scare us at every turn. I am becoming tone deaf to the good/bad mantra I hear every day. I did see that cows on anti-biotics got bigger that was interesting.

There are so many variables. More families eating out. More sugar in processed foods, less exercise. Less physical jobs. More depressed people using food as a drug,
more prescription drugs.

I know I do not like anti-biotics. I have only taken them a handful of times over 50 years. They cause me not to feel well on the inside, bloated, upset stomach etc.

I just don't know what the truth is, or who to listen to.

[nedtheguy]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

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[cjppjc]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

Well I sure don't know the answer to the obesity problem, nor do I know much about the science or the motives for the story. I just thought it would be better emotionally if instead of children being told they are too lazy to modify their diet and too lazy to exercise, that there might be some other reason for the way their bodies have turned out. Think about all the young people you know. Do all the ones with weight problems live that much of a different lifestyle than their slimmer counterparts?

[charliebrown]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

sorry for my impercise term of healthcare complex. The media seems to aid and abet big business, big gvt eccetera by printing anything that will sell advertising without any critical thought.

One question that immediately jumps to mind is why where the infants given anti-biotics at such an early age? Acute infection, perventative etc. Maybe it
is the acute infection in early life that is cause for the infection. I don't know if it is in illinois or in the U.S. all children receive antibotics at birth by law.
I could not refuse the treatment.


When I was at university and studying human cognition, my professor gave people who showed correlation a "C" grade. People who showed causation/reason got an "A".

[nedtheguy]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

redacted

[flintlock]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

It very well could be true, but I'm with CB that you simply dont know what to believe anymore. Every week its some new revelation that some food or drug is responsible for our woes. Unfortunately because almost every story is filtered through the media, usually with ulterior motives, its hard to know who to believe.

As for all the fat kids today, there is not a doubt in my mind that most are a result of high calorie foods packed into packages that are very convienient and quick to prepare. Often passed off as healthy( snack bars, cereal, etc). Throw in kids who wont eat anything not sweet and wont drink anything but juices and soda, plus the air conditioned, sedentary life, and you are going to see overweight kids. Most i see have chubby parents too, so not sure its about antibiotics vs lifestyle.

Now all that said, I think the prevailing idea that we all should look like a rail thin model is out of hand also.

[cjppjc]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

I don't want to discount diet or the indoor video game lifestyle kids live today. But I think almost all of them share these traits. Who knows, I am just seeing if there is another equally possible explanation. Maybe it's all of the above.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

I don't want to discount diet or the indoor video game lifestyle kids live today. But I think almost all of them share these traits. Who knows, I am just seeing if there is another equally possible explanation. Maybe it's all of the above.

I think truly vigorous and truly regular exercise is very powerful towards good health, like when a child trains formally with a team and a coach year-round for many years, ages 6 to 18.
So is a marginal reduction in gross caloric intake and junk foods over the long term - no candy, potato chips or sugary drinks in the kitchen most of the time.

My two (ages 21 and 22) have lean athletic bodies, that's what we did with them.
They took antibiotics often as young children, I'm pretty sure my daughter had them as a little baby under 6 months.
Their diet wasn't especially great, plenty of fast food, processed and packaged foods.

I credit the strong exercise for the good outcome.

[Chris]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

Weight problems are fundamentally very simple: more calories are consumed than expended.

The obesity problem is just a special case: vastly more calories are consumed than expended.

The problem lies in the food industry but the medical industry obviously profits handsomely from the poor educational level of the general populace regarding food. Poorer families are exploited the most by this. Cheap food is usually processed, highly calorific and mostly carbohydrate.

Sure, some there are some cases of obesity with medical causes but they are far fewer than the number implied by those who profit from it.

[don]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

The 'big guy' phenomenon has spilled into boxing - a sport with infinite weight classes except for the heavies. Guys in that class dwarf, especially in weight, their classic predessessors. In the lower weight divisions the trend is to balloon overnight 10-20 pounds between the weigh-in and fight time.

[shiny!]

Re: Giving babies antibiotics could lead to obesity: study

Weight problems are fundamentally very simple: more calories are consumed than expended.

The obesity problem is just a special case: vastly more calories are consumed than expended.

The problem lies in the food industry but the medical industry obviously profits handsomely from the poor educational level of the general populace regarding food. Poorer families are exploited the most by this. Cheap food is usually processed, highly calorific and mostly carbohydrate.

Sure, some there are some cases of obesity with medical causes but they are far fewer than the number implied by those who profit from it.

While you're not wrong, I think it's more complicated than that. Hypothyroidism is rampant. I've read that Levothyroxin is the 4th most widely prescribed drug. It's estimated that as many as 27 million Americans are hypothyroid, and 60% of hypothyroid people are undiagnosed and untreated. Hypothyroidism has risen with the spread of water fluoridatation. Fluoride used to be used to suppress thyroid function in hyperthyroid patients.

The impact of fluoride on the thyroid.

Soy is also a potent goitrogen. How many overweight or obese children were raised on soy formula? You can hardly find a packaged food that does't have soy in it. The double-whammy of soy and fluoride is one that many bodies cannot withstand without becoming hypothyroid.

Depression, sleep disorders, obesity, fatigue and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia, high cholesterol and heart disease, constipation... these diseases plague our society and they are are all symptoms of thyroid insufficiency. The standard TSH test for thyroid function is a terrible test, flawed from conception. People who test "normal" with the TSH may very well be hypothyroid. But since the test is all that most doctors look at, the poor patient is prescribed an antidepressant, a sleeping pill, cholesterol medication, a laxative, and told to eat less and exercise more.