Obesity and the use of antibiotics and probiotics in rats.

BACKGROUND Obesity has become a major public health challenge in recent years. Recent studies suggest that alterations of the gut microbiota by antibiotics could play an important role in obesity. METHODS We investigated this topic using 60 Wistar rats, which were divided into 3 experimental groups: rats treated with amoxicillin, rats treated with amoxicillin plus Saccharomyces boulardii and controls. Treatments were administered over the course of 2 weeks. Tetrapolar bioelectric impedance analysis and anthropometric evaluations were conducted. RESULTS The body mass index was significantly lower for the animals in the control group (p = 0.034). The same result was observed for the Lee index: the control group had a lower index than the 2 groups that received antibiotic treatment (p = 0.0019). The total body water data demonstrated that the control group had the greatest amount of body water (279.1 g, p = 0.0243). CONCLUSIONS The groups treated with the antibiotic exhibited a greater accumulation of body fat than the control group.