Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Farmers may have played their part in the obesity epidemic by fattening their livestock with antibiotics, a study suggests.
By altering the fine balance of gut bacteria which influence our metabolism, even small amounts of the drugs entering the food chain could have caused obesity rates to rise, researchers claim.
Although the use of antibiotics on farms is now banned in the EU due to the risk of germs becoming drug-resistant, it was commonplace in the 1950s and is still permitted in the US.
Prof Martin Blaser of New York University, who led the study, said: "The rise of obesity around the world is coincident with widespread antibiotic use, and our studies provide an experimental linkage.
"It is possible that early exposure to antibiotics primes children for obesity later in life."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...-could-have-contributed-to-human-obesity.html
By altering the fine balance of gut bacteria which influence our metabolism, even small amounts of the drugs entering the food chain could have caused obesity rates to rise, researchers claim.
Although the use of antibiotics on farms is now banned in the EU due to the risk of germs becoming drug-resistant, it was commonplace in the 1950s and is still permitted in the US.
Prof Martin Blaser of New York University, who led the study, said: "The rise of obesity around the world is coincident with widespread antibiotic use, and our studies provide an experimental linkage.
"It is possible that early exposure to antibiotics primes children for obesity later in life."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...-could-have-contributed-to-human-obesity.html