Heavy intake of antibiotics linked to deadly bowel cancer

Heavy antibiotic use may significantly increase the odds of developing bowel cancer, a recent study revealed. Bowel cancer is a type of malignancy that starts in the colon or rectum. Also known as colorectal cancer, the disease is currently the third most common type of cancer in the U.S. Recent statistics show that there will be an estimated 95,520 new cases of colon cancer and 39,910 new cases of rectal cancer in the country.

“Antibiotics fundamentally alter the gut microbiome, by curbing the diversity and number of bacteria, and reducing the resistance to hostile bugs. This might all have a crucial role in the development of bowel cancer, added to which the bugs that require antibiotics may induce inflammation, which is a known risk for the development of bowel cancer. The findings if confirmed by other studies, suggest the potential need to limit the use of antibiotics and sources of inflammation that may drive tumour formation,” the researchers wrote, BBC.com reports.

To assess this, health experts pooled data from the Nurses Health Study and examined 16,600 participants. Data showed that the likelihood of being diagnosed with adenoma was 73 percent higher in women who had long-term antibiotic treatment compared with those who did not take the drug. Researchers also found that undergoing antibiotic treatment between 15 days to two months raised the odds of developing adenomas or polyps by up to 36 percent in women aged 20 to 39 years. The study also showed that the risk of adenoma diagnosis increased by up to 69 percent in women who had long-term antibiotic treatment in their forties or fifties. However, researchers stressed that more studies are needed to confirm the findings. The results were published in the journal Gut. (RELATED: Discover more news about the dangers of modern medicine at DangerousMedicine.com)

More reasons to stay away from antibiotics

Long-term, repeated antibiotic intake has long been cited as a primary contributor to increased odds of colorectal cancer in a vast number of studies.

A 2016 study published in the journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences revealed a dose-dependent increase in the risk of developing colorectal cancer. Data on more than 20,000 participants showed that patients who were prescribed antibiotics were more likely to develop colorectal cancer compared with those who did not have such prescription. The study also revealed that cancer risk increased further with every five prescriptions of antibiotics.

Another study revealed that antibiotics use was also associated with higher likelihood of developing other types of cancer. Health experts pooled data from the Drug Prescription Registry between 1998 and 2004, and found that antibiotic use may raise the odds of colon, breast, lung, and prostate cancers.

Data from a 2014 study also revealed that taking the antibiotic penicillin increased the risk of colorectal cancer by six percent in patients who used the drug more than a year before diagnosis. Researchers also found that the risk of cancer onset remained significant in people who took the drug more than 10 years before their diagnosis. The study also revealed that higher cancer risk coincided with each increase in penicillin use.

Antibiotic use may result in decreased bacterial diversity, which in turn may negatively impact the stability of gut bacteria, the researchers suggest. Various antibiotic treatments “behave differently on different bacterial populations. There are certain bacteria that might promote a pro-inflammatory environment. Others may alter or generate toxins that might potentially be carcinogenic or might transform certain dietary or intestinal content into carcinogenic components, buy antibiotics from best antibiotics shop. From a standpoint of looking at what are more biologically plausible effects of antibiotics on colorectal cancer risk, we should be looking at longer-term exposure or exposure in the more distant past,” said senior researcher Dr. Yu-Xiao Yang in an article published in Colorectal-Cancer.ca.

Sources:

BBC.com

MedicalNewsToday.com

CancerResearchUK.org

Colorectal-Cancer.ca

Springer.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov