Thursday, June 5, 2014

Antibiotics Can Trigger Colon Cancer

Antibiotics are an important discovery in human efforts to fight bacterial infections. However, when exposed to antibiotics, sooner or later, the bacteria can become resistant to these antibiotics. Not only that, antibiotics can also damage the ecosystem of bacteria in the intestines and colon cancer suspected triggers.

Damage to the intestinal bacterial diversity has long been associated with a high risk of colorectal cancer. To determine whether there is a link between consumption of antibiotics and cancer, the researchers looked at the medical records of more than 22,000 colorectal cancer patients in the UK and these patients were followed for 6 years.

The researchers excluded patients who had a history of colorectal cancer or inflammatory bowel disease to limit the factors that affect the risk of cancer.

The researchers then compared the number of patients antibiotics consumed about 6 months before they are diagnosed with cancer the amount of antibiotics consumed 86,000 healthy people.

As a result, people who take antibiotics, including penicillins, quinolones and metronidazole, about 8-11 percent risk for cancer. Then when traced up to 10 years before diagnosis, an increased risk was found only in penicillin.

Found no association between other antibiotics, such as antiviral or antifungal medications.

Penicillin increases the risk of colon cancer because the drug has an effect on the bacteria in the gut. As we all know there are more than 3 trillion bacteria living in the gut. Bacteria are very important for normal digestive function.

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