Antibiotic overuse in kids may have some terrible consequences

More and more it’s looking like antibiotics — those miracle drugs that have saved so many lives — are turning against us.

We’ve overused them and even consumed huge amounts in foods such as meat and milk.

And now, some research is looking at the idea that giving kids antibiotics early in life is setting them up for food allergies.

In a new study, researchers tested that idea by “making” young mice allergic to peanuts after being fed a strong dose of antibiotics.

Lead researcher Dr. Martin Blaser blames that reaction on the loss of beneficial bacteria in their gut.

Early exposure to antibiotics, he warns, could weaken their immune systems by killing off “good” bacteria. And he’s hoping to be able to eventually “cure” those mice, and maybe in the future reverse allergies in children as well.

“Antibiotics are not free — they do have a cost,” says Blaser, a microbiology professor at New York University. And part of it could be an unintended effect on kids’ immunity.

Early exposure to these drugs can cause some important microbes in the gut to go missing, he notes. They’re the ones involved in “training the immune system in a particular way.” His goal is to identify them “and maybe introduce them back.”

Blaser is still testing his theory. But he hopes his research will help keep the next generation of kids from having the high rate of allergies that the current one has.

Certainly, there are times when antibiotics are necessary. But when your child or grandchild is being prescribed one for a case of the sniffles just to be “on the safe side,” we now know just how unsafe that may be in the long run.

Sources:
“Researcher claims food allergies could be caused by antibiotics” Gabe Noble, Yahoo News, news.yahoo.com