My snack drawer after a week of munchies. |
In a tangentially related note, I've been reading up on nutritional immunomodulation, growth promotants, and various other fun topics while working on some research plans and my dissertation. So, when this NPR article about a possible connection between antibiotics and obesity came across facebook today I just had to check it out.
For many in the meat industry, this seems like something that perhaps should have been looked at sooner. As the article says:
"Since the 1950s, farmers have known that small amounts of antibiotics increase the weight of livestock by as much as 15 percent. But exactly how these drugs fatten up cattle, pigs and chickens is a bit mysterious."If we know that livestock grow faster and typically gain more fat when on antibiotics, why wouldn't the same be seen in other species? Beyond that, we know that antibiotics alter digestion, metabolism and other body systems. For both animals and microorganisms. They have far-reaching effects. This may be some of the first published research showing that there is a 'nutritional downside' to antibiotic use in people, but I don't imagine that anyone is overly surprised by the outcome.
Some of our current big boys. |
A big take home for me here is that there is still a need for more and better collaboration between human and animal researchers. Because we can do more intensive research in animal models and we have focused on how to get livestock to grow to their full potential, there is a lot of information out there that if reverse engineered might provide insight into promoting lean gain and reduced weight in people.
What other correlations do you see between human and animal health research?
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