ANTIBIOTICS AND PROBIOTICS

There is no doubt that antibiotics play an essential role in modern medicine in preventing and curing bacterial infections. Thanks to antibiotics, bacterial infections are no longer the most common cause of death; however, the other side of the coin is that antibiotics negatively affect our microbiome. 

Whilst effective in killing bad bacteria, antibiotics are essentially non-selective and can also deplete the beneficial bacteria residing in the gut or elsewhere. This is thought to contribute to the development of diarrhea, constipation and vaginal infections. In certain cases, this disruption to our gut microbiome can result in overgrowth of unwanted, pathogenic bacteria such as Clostridium difficile. 

The good news is that evidence suggests taking probiotics alongside antibiotics may help to reduce their adverse effects on the composition of the microbiome.

Taking probiotics during and after a course of antibiotics can help reduce the risk of diarrhea and restore your microbiome to a healthy state. What's more, eating high fiber foods, fermented foods, and prebiotic foods during and after taking antibiotics may also help reestablish a healthy microbiome.

One of the most frequent question that I receive from Patients is: Can I take probiotics with antibiotics?

The answer is definitely yes. Extensive clinical research recommends to take probiotics (possibly associated with prebiotics, postbiotics, and fermented food) alongside antibiotics, rather than separately, without the risk of compromising the efficacy of the medical therapy.

Yours truly,

Marco Ruggiero