Antibiotics are the primary treatment for many different bacterial illnesses. They provide a highly effective way to destroy invading microorganisms, but they also destroy the normal, healthy bacteria in your intestinal system, which can lead to uncomfortable side effects. Probiotics taken at the same time as antibiotics can be a safe and effective way to avoid common complications and might even help your antibiotics work better. Speak to your doctor about using probiotics when you take an antibiotic.
Probiotics
Probiotics are live organisms found in dietary supplements or foods, such as yogurt and miso, that can replace and increase the number of beneficial bacteria normally found in the digestive tract. Most probiotics are bacteria, although some yeast strains are also used. People take probiotics to improve the health of the digestive tract and maintain a healthy population of beneficial bacteria in the gut to help fight off invading microorganisms and assist in normal digestion. When the balance of normal bacteria is altered, probiotics can bring it back to normal. Two things that frequently upset the normal balance are illness and antibiotic use.
Antibiotics
Antibiotics kill bacteria, including both the harmful bacteria that cause disease and the beneficial bacteria colonizing your intestinal tract. Many people who take antibiotics develop antibiotic-associated diarrhea because the loss of healthy intestinal flora allows diarrhea-causing microorganisms to grow out of control. In women, antibiotics also destroy the normal protective vaginal flora, making yeast infections more likely. There are many different antibiotics and not everyone reacts the same way to each type, so the development of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and other problems is unpredictable.
Benefits of Probiotics
In patients taking antibiotics, the concurrent use of probiotics can help prevent diarrhea and other associated side effects of antibiotic use by restoring the gut flora. The use of probiotics could help ensure that patients complete their full course of prescribed antibiotics. In addition, probiotics might also enhance and augment the activity of the antibiotics themselves, according to a review published in the "Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology" in 2006. While the mechanisms remain unknown, consumption of probiotics has been linked to a reduction in harmful microorganisms at sites in the body far from the digestive tract, such as the mucous membranes of the nose.
Considerations
While probiotics do add bacteria and fungi to the system, they do not diminish the effectiveness of antibiotics. An effective dose during antibiotic use is anything over 10 billion colony-forming units per day for adults and over 5 billion colony-forming units per day for children, according to research published in the November 2008 issue of "American Family Physician" by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York City. People with immune disorders should not use probiotics because the microorganisms could overgrow in the body and cause illness. In people with healthy immune systems, the body keeps beneficial bacteria in check and prevents overgrowth, but this ability is hampered in immune-compromised individuals.
References
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Probiotics
- MayoClinic.com: Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea
- "Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology"; Probiotics to Prevent the Need for, and Augment the Use of, Antibiotics; Gregor Reid; September 2006
- "American Family Physician"; Probiotics; B. Kligler and A. Cohrssen; November 2008
