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"Docs prescribe antibiotics to help us knock out infections. But could taking them actually change people&amp;#x27;s metabolisms? Farmers have given their livestock antibiotics for years in order to fatten them up. Now, two new studies are suggesting that babies or young kids who receive antibiotics may also fatten up. Researchers believe that antibiotics might actually change the composition of bacteria in young ones&amp;#x27; guts at a crucial stage, so that they&amp;#x27;re able to digest calories from food that they wouldn&amp;#x27;t normally be able to digest. In other words: the drugs may kill off some bacteria in order to let certain microbes pull calories out of hard-to-digest plant foods. End result: overweight kids. Via NBCNews: one of the research teams &amp;quot;looked at medical records for more than 11,000 newborns, who were carefully followed after they were born in the 1990s. The babies who got antibiotics before they were 6 months old were 22 percent more likely to be overweight by the time they were 3 years old.&amp;quot; Another study focused on mice. Researchers gave baby mice antibiotics in water bottles. After seven weeks, the antibiotic-taking mice were significantly larger than the non-antibiotic mice. It&amp;#x27;s much too early to confirm that antibiotics are the source--naturally, there could be a correlation effect going on, not cause-effect, and other scientists are doubtful of the studies&amp;#x27; results. While the research continues, of course, the researchers stress that antibiotics do save lives. Hmm... what do you think? More on antibiotics: * Did You Have An Appendectomy? (I Did!) Why Antibiotics May Have Worked Instead * Health Controversy: Grocery Stores Offering Free Antibiotics * Oh Great: There&amp;#x27;s a New Link Between Antibiotics and Birth Defects Photo: Thinkstock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2012/08/can-antibiotics-make-you-fat>