For several years now, antibiotics have not had the wind in their sails:overconsumed, they are expensive for health insurance and above all, they are not effective in treating infections of viral origin. Worse:significant exposure to antibiotics increases bacterial resistance. A study published in the American journal Allergy, Asthma &Clinical Immunology goes further by revealing that in children, antibiotics can increase the risk of developing food allergies, if they are consumed in the first twelve months of life. In question, an alteration of the intestinal flora due to antibiotics...
At the origin of this human study, there is a study on mice which had made it possible to show that in mice treated very young with antibiotics, these latter destroyed the bacteria of the intestine, which promotes the onset of allergies. To verify this theory, researchers at the University of South Carolina (USA) followed 7,500 children:1,500 with one or more food allergies and 6,000 in good health. Looking more closely at their relationship to antibiotics, they found that, on average, a child who took antibiotics at a very young age is 1.2 times more likely to develop one or more food allergies as they grow up. And this risk increases the more the child takes antibiotics:it is 1.3 times for 3 doses, 1.4 times for 4 doses and 1.6 times for five doses or more. However, the risk also depends on the type of molecule:cephalosporins and sulfonamides boost it, while it is lower when the child receives penicillin or macrolides.
Without becoming paranoid, here is further proof that “antibiotics are not automatic”! We'll think about it next time...
