Children who are given antibiotics over the course of their childhood gain weight significantly faster than those who do not, experts have warned.

The drugs are thought to have a compounding effect on a child's body mass index, a measure used to determine whether someone is a healthy weight.

Antibiotics are thought to alter the balance of microorganisms that inhabit the body, experts at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research said.

And, they warn the effects could last into adulthood.

Professor Brian Schwartz, leader of the study, said: 'Your BMI may be forever altered by the antibiotics you take as a child.

'Our data suggest that every time we give an antibiotic to kids they gain weight faster over time.' 

To arrive at their findings, Professor Schwartz and his team analysed Geisinger Health System's electronic health records of 163,820 children between three and 18 years old, from January 2001 to February 2012.

They examined body weight and height - which are used to determine BMI.

And they focused on antibiotic use in the previous year, as well as any earlier years for which there were records. 

At the age of 15, children who had taken antibiotics seven or more times during childhood weighed around three pounds more than those who had never taken the drugs.

Around 21 per cent of children in the study - the equivalent of 30,000 children - had taken seven or more courses of antibiotics as a child.

Professor Schwartz said the weight gain among those children frequently prescribed antibiotics is likely to be an underestimate of the true figure.

He said some antibiotic use, outside the health system, is likely not to have been recorded, and certain types are stronger than the overall average.

'While the magnitude of the weight increase attributable to antibiotics may be modest by the end of childhood, our finding that the effects are cumulative raises the possibility that these effects continue and are compounded into adulthood,' he said.

Scientists who worked to develop penicillin learned early on that its byproducts caused weight gain in animals.

This led to the modern industrial farming techniques of including small quantities of antibiotics in daily animal feed to fatten up the animals in an accelerated time frame.

So, a connection with weight gain does make biological sense, Professor Schwartz said. 

In humans, meanwhile, there is growing evidence that antibiotics could trigger weight gain because of the effect the drugs have on the microbiota, the microorganisms that inhabit the body.

There are 10 times more bacterial cells in the human body than our own cells.

Many of these bacteria do their work in the gastrointestinal tract, helping the body to digest food and absorb nutrients.

Antibiotics kill off harmful bacteria but they also target those that are vital to gastrointestinal health.

Studies have shown that repeated use of the drugs can forever change the microbiota, altering the way the body breaks down food, and increasing the calories of nutrients absorbed.

This, in turn, can lead to an increase in weight gain.

Prior research has suggested that use of antibiotics in the youngest children may cause weight gain.

But, this study shows that use at any age during childhood contributes to weight gain that accelerates with age.

Professor Schwartz said he thinks doctors are becoming more judicious in their prescribing of antibiotics, but he said it can be a difficult task.

Often parents demand the drugs for apparent cold viruses, and other ailments that the drugs are not designed to combat.

There have long been concerns that excessive antibiotic use is leading to bacterial strains that are becoming resistant to these potentially lifesaving drugs.

But, this study suggests that antibiotics can have long-term effects in individual children, Professor Schwartz noted.

'Systemic antibiotics should be avoided except when strongly indicated,' he said.

'From everything we are learning, it is more important than ever for physicians to be the gatekeepers and keep their young patients from getting drugs that not only won't help them but may hurt them in the long run.'  

The findings, published online the International Journal of Obesity. 

Written By Lizzie Parry

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