It has always seemed logical to me to avoid antibiotics and other meds like the Pill that decimate beneficial gut flora even though probiotics could conceivably “fix” the damage after the fact.
This expectation that repairing antibiotic damage with quality probiotics is straightforward, and that over time, gut flora returns to normal, may not be entirely correct.
Evidence is now emerging that damaged gut flora may actually be permanently altered by drugs. It is also one of the little-known risks of a screening colonoscopy.
This concerning and extremely provocative theory has been put forth by Dr. Martin Blaser MD of New York University’s Langone Medical Center who writes in the August 2011 edition of Nature:
Early evidence from my lab and others hints that, sometimes, our friendly flora never fully recover. These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people’s bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease. Overuse of antibiotics could be fueling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations.
As evidence, Blaser goes on to say that infections with H. pylori, the bacterial cause of ulcers, has plummeted in recent years. H. pylori, as it turns out, is very susceptible to the same broad-spectrum antibiotics used to treat children’s ear infections and colds which are doled out like candy at most pediatrician offices.
Most children routinely receive up to 20 courses of antibiotics before the age of 18.
In addition, between one third and one half of pregnant women receive antibiotics during pregnancy. The high C-section rate is also a contributing factor as surgical birth negatively affects the composition of gut flora in children as they completely miss out on exposure to Mom’s friendly bacteria as they travel through the birth canal.
This is a lot of antibiotic exposure for our younger generations and the implications for those children who don’t acquire H. pylori due to excessive antibiotics appear to be dramatic with a higher risk for both allergies and asthma.
Blaser’s research group has also observed that lack of H. pylori in the human body affects the production of ghrelin and leptin, 2 hormones that play a factor in weight gain.
Preservation of the MicroBiome
The composition of a person’s microbiome, not only in the gut but also on the skin and everywhere in the body, has huge implications to long term health. Altering this balance with drugs not only negatively affects the variety of bacterial species present but also promotes the retention of resistant bacteria in the gut.
Preservation of your personal microbiome is critical and affects not only your health but the health of your children as parents bequeath their microbiome to their offspring.
Blaser observes that:
Each generation … could be beginning life with a smaller endowment of ancient microbes than the last.
If Dr. Blaser is correct, it seems that people need to guard their microbiome from the assault of drugs and processed foods in the same manner that they protect their home and possessions with locks on the doors.
Does this research mean that it is futile to use probiotics and lacto-fermented foods to attempt to repair antibiotic damage? Absolutely not. Even if it is proven that a damaged gut cannot be returned to “normal”, the situation very well could be improved and at worst case, positively managed by a steady and regular infusion of friendly microbes.
Reference
Antibiotic Overuse: Stop the Killing of Beneficial Bacteria, Nature, August 2011
@Melissa, I completely understand. My little one spent a long time on a nicu with lots of surgeries and at least a few rounds of antibiotics. I finally had to just accept that even though antibiotics (and other things) are certainly not good in most situations or for most “normal” children, my daughter was not “normal” and it was a unique situation. Hundreds of years ago would our children have had good gut flora? Very likely. Would they have lived to enjoy it? I can certainly say for my child, a definite no. I just tried to focus on pumping and (once she was home) infant probiotics. It’s the very best I can do for her, so it will have to be enough. Just remember, because of your knowledge she will be much better off. Praying for you and your little one.
This is so discouraging to me. I’m currently 32 weeks’ pregnant, and had two rounds of antibiotics for bad UTIs. The baby has to have heart surgery within days of birth, and will be on antibiotics for that, and may need to take them before any other medical procedures. I’m going to do what I can to repopulate his/her gut, and I’ll do the GAPs diet and do my best to pump breastmilk initially, then nurse for as long as I can. I just hope that I can mitigate as much damage as possible.
I was about ready to cry. I am trying to prepare myself to take on the GAPS diet to help my daughter and the rest of my family. It has been very overwhelming to me already. Trying to avoid all the things she is allergic to and do a meal plan. Then looking at the GAPS I was even more so. But after reading more and more about it I was convinced that it would be the right move for her and the rest of us. When I saw this I thought oh great…..now what do I do. But when I saw your closing statement I was re-leaved.
@Tabitha, I am glad you are not discouraged! I meant the research as a way to show all of us that know how critical gut balance is to overall health that we are on the right track and deepen our resolve to protect our individual microbiomes and avoid antibiotics, antibiotic laced meats and conventional dairy and to preserve the balance of little friendly microbes on our skin, under our skin and everywhere all around us that try to protect and keep us if we would only protect them too!
I turned 50 this year and my doctor is recommending a colonoscopy. So far I have put my foot down. Medically, I see no reason to have one at this time. My biggest problem is that in order to do a colonoscopy you have to totally empty your colon. While this is different from taking medications that kill the flora in your gut, it is my understanding that you are killing the flora in your gut when you take the liquids to clear your gut for the procedure as well.
What are your thoughts?
As a 47 year old woman who has never had a mammogram nor will ever have one, I certainly would not be in favor of a colonoscopy with no symptomic reason. Preventative tests in the medical profession are not preventative, they are residual income. Conventional medicine has no idea how to prevent disease.
I agree wholeheartedly Sarah! And amen. I am 51 years old and I did have 2 mammograms at age 39 and 41 before I knew better and will never have another. Nor will I have a colonoscopy or bone density scan without symptomic reasoning.
I experienced dramatic and enduring gut changes after being on the pill for 5 years in my mid twenties: substantial, unexplained weight gain (75 lbs), drug allergies, IBS, infertility, depression). I knew that something had changed me fundamentally, but it took me years to make the connection between my illnesses and the pill. I only recently connected all these issues to gut flora problems and am working on healing the damage. Thank you for this post, which confirms what I had suspected.
Ann, don’t let this research discourage you. Keep on your path to healing. I am intuitively certain that at least some of the gut damage can be repaired. The rest can be positively managed with traditional diet. 🙂
“The Pills” [all of them] use synthetic “Progestins” to suppress ovulation. The body’s own progesterone also suppresses ovulation, BUT it couldn’t be patented, and didn’t work first cycle 15% of the time, so those early birth control researchers looked into all the pharmaceutical companies’ chemicals with “progesterone-like” activity.
The Pills also have estrogens (Premarin is made from horse urine) for an instant abortion, just in case – too much estrogen in a body will suffocate an embryo and prevent implantation.
Many of the synthetic progestins are extremely toxic, and NONE have the protective effects of natural progesterone.
One of the most important things to “heal the damage” from former pill use is to help your liver in every way possible, because the liver is responsible for deactivating estrogen. I cover this is my ebook (which is currently available for free to people who sign up for my “regain fertility” mailing list), but since you’re reading Sarah’s protips you’re probably already doing many of the things I suggest.
The other thing is to start getting natural progesterone, in the proper form. Injections don’t work – the progesterone comes out of solution and crystallizes at the injection site. The kind I recommend in my book is absorbed best, and lasts the longest in the body before the liver removes it.
Using Energy Medicine and Edgar Cayce’s Carbon Steel energy technologies are also quite helpful for regeneration and restoration of normal function.
-James Knochel
On a different note, I haven’t gotten the GAPS book yet but have read that Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride suggests that we keep taking large amounts (therapeutic doses) of the BioKult (10 pills a day) for the rest of our lives. Is this true?
I thought BioKult contained the types of strains that set up perminant residence in the gut and weren’t transient like the ones in fermented foods? If it was I would imagine that for maintenance 1 or 2 pills a day would be fine plus fermented food daily once the gut is healed?
I also wonder if the above research was on people who didn’t eat fermented foods, take good quality probiotics or undergo healing like that whcih takes place on GAPS.
GAPS patients do not have the proper microbial seeding on the gut wall to begin with which is why they must have a constant infusion of probiotics either through supplement or food form (daily servings of fermented foods and drinks) for the rest of their lives. How your gut wall is seeded microbially in the first few hours and days of your life cannot be altered at least not at the present moment.
Sarah, I’m sorry for all the questions. My brain is actually melting right now as I struggle to understand. So thank you for always being so patient. 🙂
How would you know if the gut was never seeded right to begin with? Would your health during childhood be a clue? And would it be correct to assume that a person’s gut flora can only get as good as it was when they were a child after doing GAPS?
In my case I was a fairy healthy child and then developed lactose intolerance at 16, had digestive problems ever since, and in my early 30s my health went down the drain. I’m sure I have nutritional deficiencies and would like to do the GAPS diet. I would also like to have a child before I can’t. I’m not that young anymore.
So does the GAPS diet aid in reinvigorating the health of our natural flora, that seeded our guts in the first few hours and days of our lives, and help them to proliferate again? If so, I guess this study is saying that these microbes, our natural flora, may be too damaged even after a diet such as GAPS? And if that is true then what gets passed onto any children we have? Is it the damaged natural flora or do the babies get better microflora if we do the GAPS diet?
So what type of constant probiotic infusion is reasonable to maintain your gut after the GAPS diet? Would I be correct in thinking that 1 or 2 BioKult a day would be fine plus fermented food daily once the gut is healed? Or are we talking something more like 10 BioKult?
Kathy, if at all possible, I think you should come to hear Dr. Natasha speak at the upcoming Weston Price / Wise Traditions conference in Dallas in November. Many of your questions will be answered, and there are always Q&A segments as well.
In addition to the book, you could learn more here as well:
http://www.gaps.me/ and
http://www.doctor-natasha.com/
Beth, thanks for the suggestion but that isn’t possible in my situation. I have however watched Dr. Natasha’s 2010 UK Wise Traditions presentation on the internet plus other videos that I could find.
Does anyone know if Dr. Natasha is giving three separate and different presentations in Dallas, or if she is giving one presentation three three different times? Like most conferencences, there are so many presentations and so little time. Thanks for any replies.
Dale, if it’s like last year, she will give an entire day’s worth of information split into three segments. The information is different in each segment and builds on the last. (In other words, it helps to attend all three.) You could always call the information line and confirm.
Another option is to purchase the recording of this year’s or last year’s talks.
As for the book link, it’s this one, published in 2010 (note the red emblem saying Revised and Expanded Edition):
http://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Syndrome-D-D-D-H-D-Schizophrenia/dp/0954852028/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316229570&sr=1-2
Kathy, those are excellent questions. I’ve been wondering about the same thing.
Wouldn’t it be MORE beneficial to colonize our gut with our own homemade kefir? I make my own dairy kefir and water kefir with kefir grains (not the starter cultures). The dairy is made with raw milk, which is also enzyme rich. The kefirs share a few of the same strains of probiotics but most of them are unique to their kind so I know I’m getting a large variety of probiotics.
Would this not adequately colonize our guts?
Sahri, I could be totally wrong but from what I understood the bacteria in the kefir are more the transient kind. But it is good to keep inufusing our gut with them.
But then above, I just noticed that Beth wrote that Dr. NCM recommends applying homemade kefir to the vagina in the weeks/months before birth to populate the birth canal with good bacteria (p. 349 of the new edition).
So then that makes me wonder if the kefir bacteria will become the natural bacteria of the baby’s gut wall?
@Kathy, the probiotics in yogurt are transient while the ones in kefir do aggressively colonize from what I’ve read. However, colonizing the gut and colonizing the gut wall are TOTALLY different things.
I’m having a hard time understanding why we couldn’t repair our guts by infusing them with new bacteria.
If these ancient strains still exist why would’t bringing them into our guts and letting them proliferate be enough? Is it that there is damage to these strains and no undamaged ones still exist? Is it that they are not the kind that can be put in a pill? Is it that our bodies now have an unfriendly environoment for them and they just can’t get a foothold?
Have you read the book on GAPS, Kathy? Dr. Natasha Campbell Mc-Bride MD explains how when we are born our guts are sterile and this may be the only opportunity to seed the gut wall with the proper microbes. There is no way to change the microbes living on the gut wall even with probiotics. The situation can only be managed at that point.
Sarah, the funny thing is I was typing my below message at the same time you were answering me.
No I haven’t got the GAPS book yet. I have been reading about the diet on the internet but do intend to get the book.
I must have a total misconception of the diet becasue it thought it was to repair our microflora. Get rid of the bad strains and replace them with good healthy strains.
You can repair it somewhat. This post today suggests it cannot be repaired totally. And if it was never right to begin with, that is another problem entirely.
So what can/should an expecting mom who plans on breastfeeding do to give her child the best chance at getting a good “seeding of the gut wall” in her newborn infant?
Don’t take antibiotics or other meds during pregnancy, don’t have IV antibiotics during delivery, go to a birthcenter or have a homebirth where the chance of a C-section is very small, take a probiotic and make sure your gut is as balanced as possible before the birth and breastfeed! Also, do not give antibiotics to your children unless it is a life threatening situation. This is the policy we abide by in our home.
I might add that Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends pregnant women do the full GAPS diet, and she also recommends applying homemade kefir to the vagina (after a bath or shower and let it dry) in the weeks/months before birth to populate the birth canal with good bacteria (p. 349 of the new edition). In fact, she has a whole new chapter on pregnancy and new baby in the new edition. Lots of great info there.
Could you leave a link to the book as it is found on Amazon or someplace, just so I’m sure I know which book you’re talking about, since the one I found doesn’t have GAPS diet in the title at all?
Sarah,
With my 2nd baby my uterus tore and they had to do an emergency c-section. They said that it is critical that I only have c-sections from now on and not try a vbac because of the tear.
I have since had two other children (via c-section), and I am concerned about their gut flora. My last one had some issues breathing and they came into my room at the hospital and said that they were putting him on antibiotics… didn’t really give me a choice and I was 1 hour out of delivery and still groggy from meds. Anyway, he is now allergic to dairy and I can’t help but think that it was at least party because of the antibiotics that he received as a newborn.
I have nursed all 4 of mine for well over a year, so hopefully that has helped, but what would you recommend doing to help with rebuilding their gut when they are so young? I plan on doing GAPS as a family once all of the kids are a little older, but I’m thinking my 2 and 5 year olds would have a complete meltdown if we tried GAPS while they were this young.
Thanks!!
Sara, are you sure you want to tell us to avoid antibiotics unless its life threatening? So if I get an infection on my hand, I should only take antibiotics when its likely to spread past my arm, but not in time to save the hand?
That’s a pretty bold position, just checking to be sure you mean it.
I like your ending to this scary story Sarah:)
i know antibiotics can be a live safer in some cases, as I know a few cases were they were given to kids with serious bone infections, pneumonia, etc…
but using them for colds (which is actually from viruses and antibiotics do not work on viruses) and ear infections is just too much.
i used to take antibiotics for acne when i was a teenager (before me and my parents new better), i think a few rounds.. now I have dust allergies,etc and absolutely need to have fermented foods and probiotics to keep them at bay, even after they have improved a lot with the cleansing/diets i did…
So for those of us who have children who have been exposed to Lyme, any suggestions? I understand that Lyme is serious enough to warrant an extensive course of antibiotics because the consequences of not catching it early and treating it can be dramatic and devastating. Either there are alternative treatments I’ve not found, or there are hopefully methods that can be used to support the natural flora in my kids guts during and after their courses of antibiotics – methods that are kid friendly (suggestions for getting kids to eat their homemade kraut? ideas for hiding other lactofermented items in their diet?
try making smoothies from kefir (my daughter loves strawberry-kefir one) or just taking kids probiotics, udo’s choice are great ones.
I’m just curious if anyone here disagrees that antibiotics are warranted for Lyme and if so, why. If not, then I guess there is no conversation to be had besides how to get the kids to eat their probiotics!
I don’t know that I really have answers for you. But I have chronic lyme, so my boys have symtoms of bad gut flora, as my flora is really bad!! At this time I am not/have not done antibiotics for myself, and not sure if I plan to. When you have lyme you have a body taken over by yeast and lots of parasites. I did some cleanses in FL to rid my body of yeast and parasites, it was rough but a lot better then antibiotics. And now I am very careful what I eat, trying to keep the yeast at a controllable level. I do the same for my boys -6, 3 & 2. I can tell a huge difference when they have been eating junk food, too much gluten, etc of things that feed yeast. I also give them a good nutritial supplement to help their immune system. And give them lots of probiotics, via kefir and kombucha. At this point, that is all I plan to do. And the lady I did my cleanses through in FL said that is the best thing to do for kids who are exposed. Hope that helps. if you want to know more, I am willing to answer questions and you can find out more on my blog.
The decision about antibiotics for Lyme is a very personal one. No one here can give you a definitive answer about whether they are warranted for you or your family or not. I suggest you delve into some deep research about other options. Google is an excellent resource 😉 There are PLENTY of other options, fairly easy to find. Take matters into your own hands, do NOT rely on what other random non-expert internet people have to say about it…. anymore than you would rely on a single “expert” doctor, get a second opinion IRL AND on the internet….. but in an effort to hold your hand and lead you in a good direction, visit here: http://buhnerhealinglyme.com/
I read something recently that said injected antibiotics are not harmful to gut bacteria because they by-pass the digestive system. I won’t claim to be the expert, though!
how would that work??? anything in your body is processed back out of your body via digestion then urine/feces. injections go through your blood and then through your digestive system… but hey i’m no expert either 😉
Hi Laura,
I have chronic Lyme. I have done 3 yrs. of abx (antibiotics) and have come a long way and am looking to even more healing (now w/o abx). My LLMD had me take iFlora (18 different probiotics in 1 capsule) all along. One of the horrors Lyme gave me was ulcerative colitis, so she has me continuing with the iFlora. She says that milk kefir is one of the best things I can have for my uc, I imagine it is for anyone with Lyme, too. I, also, am making kombucha and hope to add other fermented foods to my diet.
I want to add that I tried treating naturally at first (Una Prima de Gato and supplements). My LLMD always tries natural 1st. She wants me to take Resistant Microbes, too, but for now I can’t.
I can’t believe drs. still hand out abx. for colds and other viruses. I don’t care if the patient asks for them (I read somewhere drs. do that). I rarely even took an aspirin before Lyme. I am so glad my son and dil are so informed about abx and vaccines. The internet is a real blessing and so is Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist.
Antibiotic Damage to Gut Flora May Be Permanent – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/yD4WjYan