Source: BBC Health; The Lancet
All it takes is one editorial…or something like that. The respected Brit Medical journal The Lancet has published an editorial tied to a current study by physicians in the U.S. and in Greece on obesity and antibiotic dosage. The argument? With rising waistline sizes, the doses of antibiotics currently administered to patients need to rise as well.
Why? Simple really. The size and density of body fat can significantly alter the efficacy (that’s a fancy word for how well it works) of antibiotics. More fat creates the need for more antibiotics which brings me back to our current theme –antibiotic resistance. More antibiotics being administered creates the potential for more resistant bugs.
Europe you aren’t immune either (Yes, pun intended), currently 1 in 4 adults in England are classifiable as “obese”. This is up 15% from 1993 numbers according to the BBC. You gave us law and language and we gave you fast food. Ahh…the beauty of cultural exchange.
At any rate, I’m not following the call for higher doses of already powerful and very prevalent antibiotic and antimicrobial medications. We’ll see if I’m right in the long term.
~Posted by D.M. Schwadron, Esquire