Antibiotics will not increase diabetes risk in children

Common antibiotics do not increase the risk of Type 1 diabetes or celiac disease among children prone to developing those diseases, UF researchers found.

Eric Triplett, the department chair of microbiology and cell sciences at UF, said his study sought to determine whether antibiotic use was associated with diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease in children up to age four.

Earlier studies using mice showed a connection between antibiotic use and diabetes, but Triplett said he wanted to disprove the studies. He feared they would alarm parents about antibiotic use in their children without real cause.

His recent study showed using antibiotics will not increase the risk of disease in children, he said.

The study was done by the international Type 1 diabetes research group TEDDY, which stands for The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young, of which UF is a part, Triplett said. Planning for the study began in 2008. The data on antibiotic use was collected from the medical records of children starting in 2004 and ending in 2014.

Triplett said other factors associated with antibiotic resistance, like cancers, were not considered in this study.

“I think it’s important for UF to be involved in studies like this so they can teach the future generations about these diseases,” he said.