Antibiotic Exposure and Childhood Overweight/Obesity: Evidence from Epidemiological and Experimental Studies

Childhood overweight and obesity are nutritional disorders in which children's energy intake exceeds energy consumption for a long period, resulting in the excessive accumulation of body fat and weight that exceeds a certain range. It is one of the most serious public health issues. In recent years, its prevalence has shown a significant upward trend, and 41-80% of childhood obesity can persist into adulthood. Scholars are now more interested in researching this further. Since antibiotics have been used extensively since their discovery, more focus has been paid to the possible risks these medications pose to children who are exposed to them. Recently, some studies have explored the possible link between antibiotic exposure and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children. However, their findings are inconsistent. Therefore, this review aims to synthesize and summarize the studies related to the effects of antibiotics on childhood obesity, elucidate the possible associations between the two, and provide an in-depth discussion of the potential biological mechanisms by which antibiotics exposure may contribute to childhood obesity.