Experts at Athens University Medical School in Greece have revealed that young children who are given antibiotics have a higher chance of developing prediabetes in adolescence.
Talking to the Daily Mail about the study, Dr Charikleia Stefanaki, the lead study author, said: “Increased consumption up to the age of three seems to decrease beneficial guy microbes and alter nutrient absorption and metabolism."
“This may lead to prediabetes, an early high-risk stage of type 2 diabetes.”
Prediabetes is a condition in which people have a high blood sugar level but it is below what would be considered diabetic.
The condition means there is a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life, as well as heart disease and even stroke.
Statistics have shown that up to 30% of people diagnosed with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes within five years, unless immediate changes are made to improve health.
Scientists tested samples from ten adolescents with prediabetes as well as 14 without.
Those with prediabetes had admitted to taking antibiotics more than three times a year by the time they were three years old.
The other 14 were proven to be 8.5 times less likely to have taken antibiotics by the same age.
“Antibiotics should be administered only when really indicated,” Dr Stefanaki stressed.
