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Single course of antibiotics can mess up the gut microbiome for a year

arstechnica.com

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Re: Single course of antibiotics can mess up the gut microbiome for a year

#61

Post by unclebucknasty »

davidw wrote: post #54
unclebucknasty wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Which antibiotic(s)? I've found that I don't generally get a noticeable therapeutic effect until near the end of the antibiotics course with sinusitis.

Maybe it wasn't a sinus infection? I hate the damn things because they're a lot like a cold and it seems like the recommendation is "if you're still miserable after 2 weeks, maybe you should go to a doctor". Then you discover that you could have been feeling better days ago...

Definitely sinus infections. Been battling them for years.

I always complained to the docs that the antibiotics took too long to have a noticeable effect, to which more than one replied that there was limited blood flow to where the infection is, thus it took longer to clear.

Re: Single course of antibiotics can mess up the gut microbiome for a year

#62

Post by sunsu »

If anyone is interested in a good probiotic with a lot of solid science behind it, you should definitely check out http://www.generalbiotics.com

It was created by the guys behind the NSF funded Human Biome project. It's excellent and contains over 100 strains (not just a few like most probiotic).

Re: Single course of antibiotics can mess up the gut microbiome for a year

#63

Post by mnkc »

justboxing wrote: post #40
aschearer wrote: post #32

Since there's so much interest in gut biomes you may be interested in learning that what you eat greatly influences your biome. A vegan diet has been shown to substantially change your flora [1] in as little as a day [2]. I also found this video on the role of fiber, our gut flora, and our immune system interesting [3]. [1]: http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v66/n1/full/ejcn2011141a.... [2]: http://www.nature.com/na…

Thanks, I am a recently turned vegan. I can't say I have experienced the change in "as little as a day". I've been a lifelong lacto-vegetarian (like most indian people) and recently dropped diary (last 2 years).

SpellingNazi nitpick: Pick up the diary, and drop the dairy—if you must.

Re: Single course of antibiotics can mess up the gut microbiome for a year

#64

Post by cdcarter »

justboxing wrote: post #39
DanBC wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eat fibre. > I've developed a lot of food allergies Really? EDIT: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fiber-famished-gut... >Your gut is the site of constant turf wars. Hundreds of bacterial species—along with fungi, archaea and viruses—do battle daily, competing for resources. Some companies advocate for consuming more probiotics, live beneficial bacteria, to improve microbial communities in our gut, but more…

Thanks Dan. I did a lot of research on fiber and ended up getting confused. For instance, does it matter what type of fiber the food has i.e. soluble vs insoluble? Also, what fruits and vegetables are naturally rich in fiber. And of those, do you have to eat the skin to get the fiber? Finally, does cooking remove or reduce fiber content?

You want both types of fiber, but getting more of either is useful.

Many fruits and vegetables are rich in fiber and lists of fiber content are easy to google for. Some plants carry more fiber in their skins, some don't.

No matter what, you should intake more fiber. If you're an adult in the west, it's pretty likely that you're Not Getting Enough Fiber.

Re: Single course of antibiotics can mess up the gut microbiome for a year

#65

Post by fiatjaf »

DanBC wrote: post #51
fiatjaf wrote: post #49

How do you know when it is "necessary" to take antibiotics?

There's a health campaign in England you might be interested in: https://antibioticguardian.com/ But when a doctor prescribes a medication a useful question (no matter what the medication) is "What happens if I don't take it? What happens if we just watch and wait?"

Thank you for the helpful answer.

Re: Single course of antibiotics can mess up the gut microbiome for a year

#66

Post by sparkie »

justboxing wrote: post #50
sparkie wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had similar experience. Had allergic reaction to penicillin first prescription, which triggered my full body to come out in itchy hives. Went through 3 courses of different antibiotics until I was fit enough to get out of bed. Had bad guts for a couple of years following, which was usually an alternation between diarrhea and constipation. Sometimes I'd sit on the throne several times a day and no movement, except muc…

Thanks for sharing your story @sparkie. Doesn't sound like a whole of fun, what you went through. Do you know of any high-fiber low-calorie non-meat, non-diary foods? Also, does the %age of soluble vs insoluble fiber matter, or no?

Various beans, sweet potatoes, yams, most root vegetables. Sweet potatoes became my favourite food when I realised you could use them as a sugar replacement for many kinds of baking, which made giving up the sugar so much easier.

As for % of soluble and insolubale, I've never really paid attention to it. I probably eat far more soluble fiber than insoluble though, if it helps.

Re: Single course of antibiotics can mess up the gut microbiome for a year

#67

Post by undersuit »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #44
Cheyana wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I don't think probiotic yogurt really contains as much of the bacteria as you would need to affect your system. I bought two 4-packs of that stuff and ate them over the course of a week as a replacement for the over the counter stuff, just to see if it would help. No effect whatsoever. Went back to the over the counter stuff (Udo's Choice, which is expensive, refrigerated stuff from Whole Foods) and I was r…

>*probiotic with 102 billion cells..." That's the thing that gets me with probiotics/packaging: they list these counts that can vary widely and are sometimes seemingly astronomical. It kind of implies that if some is good, then more is better. I've thought that there is certainly some level at which it's not good for you. Logically, if a certain dosage is produced, then you assume it to have some therapeutic effect.…

They list these numbers on yeast packets for brewing too. Much better that your yeast spends as much time as possible fermenting instead of growing and budding. With an initial count and an idea of the age of the batch you can decide if you're going to start the yeast in a small start batch(to prop up their numbers) or just plop the contents in.

What I'm trying to get at is a low dosage might mean the little critters take a while to reach a good population, while a high dosage might be what's needed to discourage growth and encourage their reactions.

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