Probiotics how long after antibiotics

A study detailed the benefits of Lactobacillus supplementation in infants in India, where treatment with the probiotic was found to significantly reduce sepsis deaths in low birth weight infants. Now, investigators from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel studying the human gut have authored 2 new papers regarding probiotics that were published on September 6, in the journal Cell.

In the first study of 25 human participants, investigators found that not everyone who takes probiotics experiences intestinal colonization of the beneficial bugs. There is no suggestion in current research that probiotics interfere with the action of antibiotics in any way. In fact, doctors and GPs are often now recommending probiotic supplements and probiotic foods, such as yoghurts or kefir, to be taken alongside a course of antibiotics.

The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a concerning public health issue. The World Health Organisation WHO published a report 1 , analysing data from countries, and calling resistance to antibiotics a 'major global threat'.

They state that simple, common infections thought to pose little threat today, could become killers again in the future, due in large part to antibiotic resistance.

In light of this, steps must be taken to slow the progress of antibiotic resistance, and to change the way we use and prescribe antibiotics. Over-prescription and over-use of antibiotics are significant contributing factors to the development of antibiotic resistance Healthcare practitioners can read further information about the over-prescription of antibiotics here.

Failure to complete a full course of antibiotics is also believed to contribute to antibiotic resistance Probiotics are being used increasingly to help support digestion during antibiotic use which may enable patients to complete their medication. Health professionals might be interested to read more about the use of probiotics against antibiotic resistance. Alternatives to antibiotics would of course be interesting to explore but ideally in the case of a bacterial infection, this should be under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner.

It is worth considering that antibiotics are not always necessary, for example in the case of viral infections, antibiotics will remain ineffective because antibiotics, by nature, target bacteria. There are also arguably a number of minor bacterial infections that have the potential to resolve naturally without having to rely on an antibiotic. The question of whether someone should be taking a probiotic or an antibiotic is commonly asked.

Studies have shown that people who eat yogurt or fermented milk have higher amounts of Lactobacilli in their intestines and lower amounts of disease-causing bacteria, such as Enterobacteria and Bilophila wadsworthia 18 , 19 , Kimchi and fermented soybean milk have similar beneficial effects and can help cultivate healthy bacteria in the gut, such as Bifidobacteria 21 , Other studies have also found that fermented foods may be beneficial during antibiotic treatment.

Some of these have shown that taking either normal or probiotic-supplemented yogurt can reduce diarrhea in people taking antibiotics 23 , 24 , High-fiber foods include:. Studies have shown that foods that contain dietary fiber are not only able to stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut, but they may also reduce the growth of some harmful bacteria 26 , 27 , However, dietary fiber can slow the rate at which the stomach empties. In turn, this can slow the rate at which medicines are absorbed Therefore, it is best to temporarily avoid high-fiber foods during antibiotic treatment and instead focus on eating them after stopping antibiotics.

Unlike probiotics, which are live microbes, prebiotics are foods that feed the good bacteria in your gut. Many high-fiber foods are prebiotic. The fiber is digested and fermented by healthy gut bacteria, allowing them to grow However, other foods are not high in fiber but act as prebiotics by helping the growth of healthy bacteria like Bifidobacteria.

For example, red wine contains antioxidant polyphenols, which are not digested by human cells but are digested by gut bacteria. One study found that consuming red wine polyphenol extracts for four weeks could significantly increase the amount of healthy Bifidobacteria in the intestines and reduce blood pressure and blood cholesterol Similarly, cocoa contains antioxidant polyphenols that have beneficial prebiotic effects on the gut microbiota.

A couple studies have shown that cocoa polyphenols also increase healthy Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus in the gut and reduce some unhealthy bacteria, including Clostridia 32 , Thus, eating prebiotic foods after antibiotics may help the growth of beneficial gut bacteria that have been damaged by antibiotics.

For example, studies have shown that it can be harmful to consume grapefruit and grapefruit juice while taking certain medications, including antibiotics 34 , This is because grapefruit juice and many medications are broken down by an enzyme called cytochrome P Eating grapefruit while on antibiotics can prevent the body from breaking down the medication properly.

This can be harmful to your health. One study in six healthy men found that drinking grapefruit juice while taking the antibiotic erythromycin increased the amount of the antibiotic in the blood, compared to those who took it with water Studies have shown that foods supplemented with calcium can reduce the absorption of various antibiotics, including ciprofloxacin Cipro and gatifloxacin 37 , It could be that only foods that are supplemented with high doses of calcium should be avoided when taking antibiotics.

However, they can sometimes cause side effects, including diarrhea, liver disease and changes to the gut microbiota. Taking probiotics during and after a course of antibiotics can help reduce the risk of diarrhea and restore your gut microbiota to a healthy state. A recent study published in the journal Cell , suggests that probiotics might not always be the most helpful course of measure to restore your gut to health. The research team divided study participants in two groups — one was given an strain probiotic treatment for a four-week period, and the other just given a placebo.

While the probiotics given to the first group did effectively colonize the gut with new, helpful bacteria, this surprisingly delayed the microbiome to return to normal over the full six-month study period.

Meanwhile, the gut microbiota of those in the second group actually returned to health in three weeks after going off the antibiotics. Emeran A. Mayer, director of the G. Given the caveats above, the implications of the study are that taking probiotics after a course of antibiotics will delay the return of the gut microbial architecture to its pre-antibiotic state.

If this study is confirmed by other researchers it means that the traditional practice of taking a probiotic after antibiotic is wrong, and should no longer be recommended by physicians and advertisers.

Meyer added that this does have uses — taking a probiotic like Bifidobacteria has been shown to reduce antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

While the new study offers a counterpoint to the traditional emphasis on probiotics, it offers an alternate solution to returning to the gut microbiome to normal following antibiotic treatment. The researchers collected stool samples from one of the groups, freezing them prior to going on antibiotics. The stool was then returned to gut following antibiotic treatment in a process called autologous fecal transplantation.

This brought the gut microbiome back to normal after eight days.