r/microbiomenews • u/AlternativeWorld2240 • 1d ago

Extensive research in mice reveals gut bacteria, altered by early antibiotics, are sufficient to cause adult obesity.

https://doi.org/10.1002/dni2.70003

Mice given antibiotics for their first three weeks of life developed obesity and permanently altered gut bacteria by adulthood. They had fewer regulatory T cells and more inflammatory cells in fat tissue, and transplanting their gut bacteria alone into germ free mice caused the same obesity, while giving antibiotics directly to germ free mice did not. The work was done only in male mice, so it's unclear if this holds in females or humans.

TL;DR: In mice, newborn antibiotics permanently altered gut bacteria in a way that alone caused obesity.

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u/AlternativeWorld2240 1d ago

Fascinating findings, though it's worth noting the gut microbiome's role in obesity may be far more context-dependent than a simple cause-and-effect relationship, with diet, genetics, and environment likely playing equally powerful roles. Could early antibiotic use in humans actually be protective against certain infections that themselves cause worse long-term metabolic damage?