Antibiotics and gut health

In 2022, over 30 million antibacterial drugs (antibiotics) were delivered in the UK. While we're entering the colder months, the number of antibiotic prescriptions is going to increase, so chances are some of you will be on a course over the next few months.

If you're being prescribed a course of limited-spectrum antibiotics, they will most probably kill the bacteria responsible for your infection, and stop their action there.

However, if you’re on broad-spectrum antibiotics, they will also impact the colony of bacteria in your gut (the microbiota) and disrupt the balance of this complex ecosystem. While some bacteria will regress or disappear, others will overgrow. This imbalance can increase your risk of contracting infections, promote resistance to antibiotics, and negatively impact your gastrointestinal and immune health.

So if you must take broad spectrum antibiotics, remember to support your gut microbiota.

My view of course is to support it at all times. This said, if you haven’t yet come around assessing your gut health and understanding how to improve and maintain your very own gut microbiota health, a safe advice is to take probiotics when you take antibiotics.

The brand Optibac has developed probiotics specifically for people on antibiotics, tested to ensure they’re not impacted by antibiotics.

Beside supplementing, make sure to eat plenty of gut-friendly foods that feed and support the beneficial bacteria, i.e. prebiotic and probiotic foods.

Prebiotic foods include garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, bananas, apples, oats, flaxseeds, mushrooms, barley, lentils, beans, chickpeas.

Probiotic foods include natural yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kombucha.

Breakfast idea: A breakfast consisting of jumbo oats, banana/apple, natural yogurt / kefir and flaxseeds (try milled flaxseed from Linwoods) is a good choice.

This recommendation is of course generic - some people will need to avoid prebiotic and probiotic foods because of existing gastrointestinal conditions, or food intolerances that are causing digestive and other less obvious symptoms.

Other ways of supporting your gut health when taking antibiotics is to ensure you have enough quality sleep and avoid foods that aren’t particularly helpful for your gut microbiota, such as alcohol, processed foods and sugar.

Should you like to assess your gut-health status and work with me on improving it, I'd of course love to hear from you.