FIR Episode 3: Had to take an Antibiotic? What to do next.

Probiotics, prebiotics or a combination of both? 

Sometimes an antibiotic prescription is unavoidable in Hong Kong.

For most, it’s when you’ve got an infection that isn’t getting better.

For most, there can be a reluctance to take the antibiotics prescribed, and this may be warranted.

The O’Neill report released in the UK defined this predicting that by 2050 (think your children or grandchildren in their 30s), antibiotic-resistant infections will potentially claim 10 million lives a year, overtaking cancer (8.2 million lives a year). 

Studies show that the impact of antibiotic use varies from decreased bacterial diversity (lower numbers of species recover post-treatment) to opening the door to opportunistic bacteria that can outgrow our normal bacteria, affecting the microbiome as a whole.^[1]

This Free and Inspired radio episode looks more deeply at some fundamental elements of antibiotic recovery.

And how you can take control. 

For example, probiotics can help with some acute symptoms, such as antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, especially in children. 

Probiotics can also help build resilience towards some opportunistic bacteria and yeast that can develop after antibiotic use.

Prebiotics, in the form of dietary fibre, can help rejuvenate the diversity of the microbial environment. 

Combining the two may also improve your natural resistance (read immunity) to opportunistic microbes moving forward. 

Philip covers the best species of probiotics to take along with the essential things to do from a diet standpoint at the show’s end.

For example, animal experiments suggest that a low-fibre diet can delay recovery from commonly used antibiotics.^[2]

All this and more in episode 3 of Free and Inspired Radio!

^[1] Langdon A, Crook N, Dantas G. The effects of antibiotics on the microbiome throughout development and alternative approaches for therapeutic modulation. Genome Med. 2016;8(1):39. Published 2016 Apr 13. doi:10.1186/s13073-016-0294-z

^[2] Ng KM, Aranda-Díaz A, Tropini C, et al. Recovery of the Gut Microbiota after Antibiotics Depends on Host Diet, Community Context, and Environmental Reservoirs [published correction appears in Cell Host Microbe. 2020 Oct 7;28(4):628]. Cell Host Microbe. 2019;26(5):650-665.e4. doi:10.1016/j.chom.2019.10.011