We all know how important our gut health is to our overall health and well-being. And while we typically think of probiotics as being helpful bacteria that we eat or supplement with, it turns out they may also be helpful in reducing the damage caused by antibiotics.
According to the first ever review of the data on the subject, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, taking probiotics alongside your prescribed antibiotics may help to reduce damage to your gut microbiome.
The gut microbiome is the community of all the microorganisms that live in our digestive tracts. These include bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and they play an important role in our health by helping to digest our food, absorb nutrients, and fight off pathogens.
Antibiotics are important drugs that can save lives by killing harmful bacteria. However, they also kill good bacteria, and this can lead to gut dysbiosis, which is an imbalance in the gut microbiome. This can cause side effects like diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, and it can also make us more susceptible to infections.
Probiotics are live microorganisms that offer health benefits when consumed. They can help to restore the balance of the gut microbiome and reduce the side effects of antibiotics.
The review looked at 12 studies that included a total of 1,004 participants. The studies looked at a variety of different probiotic strains, and the participants were taking them alongside a variety of different antibiotics.
Overall, the review found that taking probiotics alongside antibiotics can reduce the risk of developing antibiotic-associated diarrhea by 58 percent. They also found that probiotics can reduce the severity of diarrhea by 50 percent.
There are a few things to keep in mind when considering taking probiotics alongside antibiotics. First, it’s important to start the probiotics at the same time as the antibiotics, and to continue taking them for at least two weeks after finishing the antibiotics. Second, different probiotic strains can have different effects, so it’s important to choose a strain that has been shown to be effective against the specific antibiotic you’re taking.
If you’re considering taking probiotics alongside antibiotics, speak to your doctor or a naturopathic doctor to choose the right probiotic for you.
Probiotics are live bacteria that are beneficial to gut health, and are often taken as supplements. Antibiotics are drugs that kill bacteria, including both good and bad bacteria. Taking probiotics alongside antibiotics may help to reduce the damage that antibiotics can cause to the microbiome, according to a new review of the data.
The gut microbiome is the community of microbes that live in the gut. It is made up of many different species of bacteria, some of which are beneficial and some of which are harmful. The balance of these different bacteria is important for gut health. Antibiotics can kill both good and bad bacteria, and can therefore disrupt the balance of the microbiome. This can lead to problems such as diarrhoea and infection.
Probiotics may help to reduce the damage that antibiotics can cause to the microbiome by replenishing the good bacteria that are killed by the antibiotics. They may also help to reduce the side effects of antibiotics, such as diarrhoea.
The review found that taking probiotics alongside antibiotics may be helpful, but more research is needed to confirm this. Probiotics are generally considered safe, but they can cause problems in people with weak immune systems or who are very ill. If you are taking antibiotics, speak to your doctor before taking probiotics.
