You are probably aware of the fact that antibiotics are given to poultry and livestock in order to make them grow faster and develop more body fat. This practice has been in place for several decades. Well, the same phenomenon appears to happen in people. Antibiotics have been added to farm animals’ food in order to help them pack on the pounds. This means the farmer can save a bit of money because he can get away with feeding the animals less, and they mature faster; therefore, are ready for market sooner. The average American child is given one course of antibiotics a year, mostly for chest or ear infections. American children are definitely becoming more overweight, and several factors are to blame. Perhaps antibiotic use is one of them. Antibiotics promote weight gain by altering the balance of bacteria in the intestines. Research done on mice has shown “They gained about twice as much body fat as the control-group mice who ate the same food. For the female mice, the antibiotic exposure was the switch that converted more of those extra calories in the diet to fat, while the males grew more in terms of both muscle and fat, Dr. Blaser writes. The observations are consistent with the idea that the modern high-calorie diet alone is insufficient to explain the obesity epidemic and that antibiotics could be contributing.” “As we all know, our children’s diets have gotten a lot richer in recent decades. At the same time, American children often are prescribed antibiotics. What happens when chocolate doughnuts mix with penicillin?” When used appropriately, antibiotics can be life-saving drugs. The problem is, in recent years they have been overused. I’m not suggesting you forgo taking antibiotics for serious infections; it is wiser to strengthen your immune system so you don’t develop as many infections in the first place. If you are required to take a course of antibiotics, you can help replenish some of the good bugs you lost with a probiotic such as Floratone. Reference

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