Infectious disease was the main cause of childhood obesity
American researchers found that infections, the migrated in infancy, increases the risk of obesity in children. Briefly about the study reports EurekAlert.
“In previous works we have stated that obesity in children are antibiotics. However, later we found out that they have nothing to do with it, — said the study’s lead author De-kun Li. — We found evidence that gut bacteria greatly influence the development of children.”
Researchers examined data on more than 260 thousand people under the age of 16 years. The team found that infections exert a strong influence on the composition of the intestinal microflora. This leads to deterioration of metabolism, and the immune system and affects the height and weight of the child. As a result, children who are ill with infectious diseases in the first year of life, the risk of overweight at a later age increases by 25 percent.
According to statistics, in the United States more than a third of children and adolescents are overweight. The research shows that this is not only the consumption of high-calorie food.
In late October, experts from the Research center at the clinical hospital of the University of Montreal have found the cause of an incurable form of obesity. It turned out that insufficient activity of the enzyme ABHD6 in neurons of the hypothalamus makes diet and exercise are useless in the fight against obesity.