Healthy Living: Examining antibiotics

The cold weather, spending more time indoors and the dry, heated air make us more prone to get colds. In such stressful times many people feel under the weather and ask their GP to prescribe antibiotics – even though the symptoms might not be of a bacterial origin. Antibiotics are the most over-prescribed medicine in the world – as a result, now we have many species that are resistant to even our most advanced drugs. What used to be a miracle cure in the early 20th century is rapidly becoming our enemy due to overuse.
In ancient times in Greece and India, moulds, herbal remedies and even warm soil have been used (in Russia) to treat an infection, until Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish biologist, defined new horizons for modern antibiotics with the isolation of an enzyme from Penicillium notatum fungus in 1928.
Skip ahead 50 years, and Martin Blaser, Chair of the Department of Medicine at New York University recently published a book called “Missing Microbes”, highlighting the potentially dangerous long-term consequences that arise from the rampant overuse of antibiotics. He argues that changes in our microbiota may even be promoting the transmission of deadly organisms, as one of the important roles of an intact microflora is to resist colonization by pathogenic (bad) organisms.
Blaser also points out that, not only does the individual use of antibiotics cause permanent changes in the gut flora, but that infants born to women given antibiotics during pregnancy, or the 30% of children delivered via Caesarean section, may be starting life with a significantly altered and insufficient level of friendly gut flora. This is a serious concern because lack of diversity in friendly gut bacteria has been shown to contribute to a large number of diseases and complications.
The problem is that antibiotics kill bacteria, but not yeasts or parasites. It does not discriminate between disease-causing bacteria and our beneficial strains. Now some specific antibiotics are unavailable, so doctors have to use the more detrimental, broad-spectrum ones. Even a single course of broad-spectrum antibiotics can cause a significant change in the variety of strains we have for years ahead, affecting digestive, immune, and overall health.

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The diversity of the microflora is the base for overall health, as each bacterium has its unique health benefits. Studies show that reduced diversity is behind common gastrointestinal problems like IBS and even inflammatory bowel disease and other autoimmune diseases as they’re linked to immune system imbalances. Why? Because over 70% of our immune cells reside in the gut and are influenced by the microbes living there.
Therefore, if you suffer from any ailments, or have taken antibiotics ever in your life – it is time to find out what is growing inside you with functional testing and re-establish your healing bacterial diversity. If you must take antibiotics, taking a diverse live bacteria supplement alongside – starting from day 1, may reduce side effects and potentially improve the efficacy of antibiotics.