And there is another worry. "Overuse of antibiotics could be fuelling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations," writes Martin Blaser, professor of microbiology at New York University's Langone Medical Center in the journal Nature . "Indeed, large studies we performed have found that people without the bacterium are more likely to develop asthma, hay fever or skin allergies in childhood," writes Blaser.
As H. pylori, one bacterium, "has disappeared from people's stomachs, there has been an increase in gastroesophageal reflux, and its attendant problems such as Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal cancer. Could the trends be linked? "writes Blaser. The proton pump inhibitors such as Prilosec, Prevacid and Protonix makes matters worse--altering the composition and capacity of bacteria in the colon, researchers report.
Because of their links to resistant infections and possibly obesity, asthma and gastrointestinal problems, it is good to see health professionals curtail the use of antibiotics. When will livestock operators follow suit? END
twitter @marthrosenberg
Martha Rosenberg's, Born with a Junk Food Deficiency,
exposes the use of antibiotics and other drugs in commercial US meat and milk. It
is now available in bookstores, libraries and online.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
