Antibiotics: The Hidden Reason Behind America’s Obesity Epidemic!
Antibiotics have long been used to cure certain ailments. Almost everyone uses them even for minor ailments such as flu. Though used as a form of medication, research indicates that it is bringing about weight gain by about 50% as revealed by Dr. Oz which is a definite concern for everyone. This has been proven through experiments on not only livestock (chicken) and mice but also through observation on kids between the ages of three and seven.
This concern was raised after the thought of farm animals gaining weight as a result of antibiotics. The idea of antibiotics causing weight gain on people was born. At this point, it was only a speculation until an experiment on mice was carried out. As revealed, the following is the relationship between antibiotics and weight gain from the experiment.
Antibiotics Alter Your Metabolism
Your metabolism is altered as antibiotics kill good bacteria in your colon used for food digestion. By killing this good bacteria, food is not converted into energy or broken down for its nutrients to carry out its purpose in the body. Instead, it settles within the body and remains as calories which in turn leads to addition of body mass.
Antibiotics reduce the bacteria which is necessary for complete digestion of the food we absorb. This was evidenced in the experiment on mice. With two groups of mice that were under the same diet, those that were under small doses of antibiotics gained weight with about 50% more. You end up retaining more calories over the same food intake.
Antibiotics Cause Cravings
Cravings will always get you to eating all the junk food you can get to lay your hands on depending on the type of bacteria. You will always find yourself craving for more, frequently than normal. All those brownies and cake you have been avoiding, begin to become the reason you want to eat. Everything sugary such as sweets become a preference in your diet. This is caused after the antibiotics destroy the useful bacteria that would demand a better diet.
The end result is that you tend to start eating unhealthy and consuming more foods with high concentration of calories. In an attempt to satisfy your craving, you end up consuming more calories and you begin to increase your weight.
Antibiotics can increase the number of fat cells in your body
Antibiotics were noted to increase the number of fat cells in our bodies. As demonstrated by Dr. Oz, a person using antibiotics will tend to have less number of fat cells as compared to a person exposed to antibiotics. The more the fat cells you accumulate, the more you notice some weight gain. The cells store more fat which then bulge out to be seen as increasing weight.
This was evidenced in an observation in kids. The kids who had been exposed to antibiotics in an early age were grew up to have more weight as compared to children who were not.
A comparison between men and women. It was noted that just like women tend to easily gain weight over men, the drug behaved just in the same way. Women tend to have more fat depository regions in their bodies as compared to men. This is therefore a concern for women over men.
Other than the positive results on farm animals that made them larger and heavier over a shorter period of time, the results that were observed were similar even in human beings. Despite being a positive thing for farmers, it is becoming a raising concern for humans in the continuous use of antibiotics.
According to Dr. Oz, it is best that we cut down the consumption of antibiotics. They can be found in the drugs we consume, in water and also in the foods we ingest such as the chicken and beef that were bred using antibiotics. The belief that these foods are rid of antibiotics by the time they get to the table for consumption, it not always a fact.
As much as antibiotics add up to their medicinal value, it is important that for minor ailments such as flu, the are several remedies that do not include use of antibiotics. You can also use probiotics which replenish the bacteria that was destroyed as a result of consuming antibiotics.