Antibiotics may Enhance Growth in Kids at Risk for Undernourishment

Children who are at risk of undernourishment, especially in low and middle income countries, can benefit by taking antibiotics after researchers found that they were able to improve growth in such children. The study was conducted by researchers at McGill and the University of British Columbia who analyzed results of 10 studies involving over 4,300 children from seven low and middle income countries.

The researchers found that antibiotic treatment was beneficial both in terms of height and weight among the children with an average increase of 0.04 cm/month for height and by 23.8 g/month for weight.

Taking differences in the age of the study participants into account, the researchers found that antibiotic treatment was beneficial in terms of height among the youngest children while those from Africa benefited the most in terms of weight. The study has been published in the British Medical Journal.



Source-Medindia