Shocking Study Finds that Penicillin Changes Childrens’ Brains, Causing Them to Grow Up Angry and Violent

19 April 2017

 - Antibiotic treatment during late pregnancy and early childhood spurred aggression and long-term behavioral changes in animal models, a recent study showed. A team of researchers at the McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton in Ontario, Canada examined the effects of low-dose penicillin treatment in pregnant mice and their offspring, and found that the antibiotic triggered neurochemical changes in the brain and spurred a gut bacteria imbalance in mice. These changes coincided with increased aggression and reduced anxiety in the animal models, researchers said. However, the study revealed that giving mice a lactobacillus strain of bacteria helped prevent the onset of these negative behaviors.

“In this paper, we report that low-dose penicillin taken late in pregnancy and in early life of mice offspring, changes behaviour [sic] and the balance of microbes in the gut. While these studies have been performed in mice, they point to popular increasing concerns about the long-term effects of antibiotics. Furthermore, our results suggest that a probiotic might be effective in preventing the detrimental effects of the penicillin,” said lead author Dr. John Bienenstock in an article in ScienceDaily.com.