Dr. Martin Blaser, MD, of New York's University's Langone Medical Center 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."
Did you know that, on average, most children receive up to 20 courses of antibiotics before the age of 18. Also, between one third and one half of pregnant women receive antibiotics during pregnancy. And, with the high rates of C-sections performed, surgical births negatively affects the composition of gut flora in newborns as they completely miss out on exposure to their mother's friendly bacteria while they travel through the birth canal.
If you have been given antibiotics anytime throughout your lifetime, a good defense, is still the use of probiotics, such as, drinking kefir, eating yogurt, supplementation with probiotic capsules. Your gut will love you for it.
Source:
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Nature
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