some daily medicine It can affect your gut health in the long run.
A large-scale study conducted in Estonia found that intestinal microbiota Antibiotics can reshape the ecosystem that lives in your gut, according to a new study published in the ASM journal.
Other medications, such as antidepressants and cold medicines, can also change the bacteria in your gut. These effects can accumulate over time and may last for years after taking the drug.
Bacterial infections could become deadly as antibiotic crisis grows, experts warn
The study analyzed stool samples from 2,509 people and linked their microbiome data with electronic health records that included up to five years of prescription history. Approximately 4.4 years later, a second stool sample was collected from a subcohort of 328 individuals.
The researchers looked at which drugs were associated with changes in the microbiome, whether the amount or duration of use intensified these effects, and what happened to patients when they started or stopped taking the drugs.
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Of the 186 drugs tested, 167, or 89.8%, were associated with at least one microbial effect.
No matter how many years it takes before studyingThe researchers found that many drugs remain associated with microbiome fluctuations, including antibiotics, tranquilizers, antidepressants, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), beta blockers, and benzodiazepine derivatives.
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For some drugs, higher frequency of past use or longer duration of past use is associated with greater perturbation of the microbiome, suggesting that these effects accumulate over time.
In this study, certain drugs, particularly PPIs, SSRIs, some antibiotics — can cause changes in your microbiome.
FOX News Senior Medical Analyst Dr. Mark Siegel shared the old adage with FOX News Digital: “You are what you eat.”
“The drugs you’re taking may change you,” he said of the new research.
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Professor Siegel said these findings were “not surprising” as the gut microbiome is fragile and can be “easily altered by active chemicals”.
“It can have short- and long-term effects on metabolic processes, and not just on the health of the gastrointestinal system. brain too“This is because there is a direct connection between the gut and the brain via the vagus nerve,” he said.
He added: “This is an important study and should lead to further research, especially on the relationship between changes in the gut microbiota caused by various drugs and various diseases.”
The study authors noted several limitations to the study, including the fact that it focused only on prescription-based medications and did not take into account the effects of over-the-counter medications.
Some people taking antibiotics may have underlying health conditions. health condition It may also have affected your gut health. Diet, lifestyle, and other factors may also play a role.
Additionally, in some cases, electronic health record data may be incomplete or unclear.
Researchers also analyzed stool sampleThis means that microbial changes in some intestinal regions may have been missed.
“We emphasize the importance of considering drug use history when assessing disease-microbiome associations,” the authors write in the journal publication.
“Taken together, our results expand our understanding of the effects of drugs on the microbiome and encourage researchers to focus on long-term effects. Effect of medicine whenever possible. ”
