Got a bug?

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You have the sniffles.  You ache.  You complain.  You call your doctor.  He prescribes antibiotics.  All is well?  Right?

No!  We have been prescribing  – actually overprescribing – antibiotics for ailments non-treatable by antibiotics for too long now.  And, now, there’s finally discussion to cut out this practice.  The ABIM Foundation has a new program- Choosing Wisely– which recognizes that most of these “sniffly” ailments for which antibiotics are prescribed are viral infections- for which antibiotics provide no benefit.    And, the FDA is finally beginning to stop the feeding of antibiotics to animals, as a means to “fatten them up”.

But, that’s not the whole story, either.  You know that when you are on an antibiotic regimen, your gut gets fouled up.  You need to eat yoghurt to repopulate your gut flora.  But, they are not your bacteria.  (There have been articles- including mine–  written than our gut bacteria populations may be more identifiable than fingerprints.)

Dr. Martin Blaser (New York University) has conducted experiments showing that long-term and acute dosages of antibiotic are changing the nature of our intestinal microbial flora.  That may be  one of the factors behind our obesity epidemic.  He fed mice low dosages of penicillin, just like is done for feed animals.  Not surprisingly, the mice were 10 to 15 % larger and twice as fat as those mice not fed penicillin, after 30 weeks.  (Remember, the average mouse live 3 years, so this is about 1/5 its natural life.)   What was also not as surprising, was that the intestinal microbial flora in the two mice groups were different.  The number of Lactobacilli (good bacteria, which may aid in cancer prevention) were reduced. Dr. Blaser then performed this same test using germ-free mice (with no intestinal microbial flora).  Within five weeks, these antibiotic-fed mice were 35% larger than the control group.

Antibiotics and Inflammatory bowel disease
Original diagram has been removed. This is a replacement

Dr. Blaser also tested the acute, higher dosages of antibiotics, to simulate the use of the drugs to counter infections.  He found (results presented at the  International Human Microbiome Congress, Metagenomics of the Human Intestinal Tract, March 2012, Paris) that T-cell (lymphocytes that are part of our immune system) populations were significantly lower in mice that had received the antibiotic regimen.  Which means that while we may have killed off the invading bacteria, we’ve also compromised our immune system responses.

Blaser also worries that fetuses exposed to antibiotics may be born with compromised intestinal microbial flora- and if the missing microbes are never introduced to the child, it shall remain so compromised for life.

We are what we eat…

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20 thoughts on “Got a bug?”

  1. I know this to be true!! and my kids in college were shocked at the army of prescribed drugs students eat like candy…and without a thought about it. the culture is to take a pill…
    i am your newest follower..pls follow back if you can.

    1. It’s not just college kids. Many people call their docs up demanding antibiotics when they get these sniffles. Then, they don’t finish the course (letting the remaining microbes mutate and become resistant) and throw the rest down the toilet (letting all those microbes in the water become acclimated to the drugs)…
      And, that’s not even considering what happens in the gut…

      Thanks for the visit and comment, Ann!

  2. As usual I have a lot of thoughts about this. I agree, don’t get me wrong, but it makes me think. Neutropenia is a problem for people on chemo, the only way to treat it is a trinity of very strong antibiotics given in infusion, and when the whites start to come back up usually a seven day regime of Cipro. The crap part about it (as if there is a bonus) is that the things we can use to rebuild our flora are illegal to consume under the threat of Neutropenia. Once you are in the clear you can, but by then you get the sense of trying to fight a charging elephant with a pump action BB gun. My point is, that even when they are needed antibiotics are still daunting, and few people think about the side affects when asking for them. Personally, when I have an infection be it viral (which they don’t help) or a minor sinus infection or the like, my go to “meds” are vitamin C and E in combination two to the three times a day until the infection clears. Believe it or not it does help, and act as a natural antibiotic without the issues associated with it.

    The bottom line is that for far too long we (the universal we) go to the doctor, put whatever pills they give us in our mouth, without understanding the cost/benefit. I’m not saying don’t take your meds, I’m saying take your meds but be informed. Wholistic health isn’t our doctor’s responsibility, it is ours. They specialize in helping us heal the body in a very specific way, we need to be accountable for the rest. Including understanding how to deal with the side issues our current level of medicine contains.

    Great article, I’m not sure I added to it as much as I babbled, but Roy…you’ve known me long enough by now that you know babble is my second language.

  3. This is very frightening, Roy. I knew that antibiotics were over-prescribed, but I never knew about the link to weight gain and stomach bacteria. It makes me wonder about the population of people who eat meat from animals raised on antibiotics? Thank you for the information! ~ Suerae

    1. Not only what it does to us, SueRae- which is unknown- but the excretion from animals (which are fed FAR higher dosages than would be allowed for us) which affords the microbes in the environment to become inured to their actions.

      Roy

  4. As a kid I was given antibiotics every time I had a sore throat. Could this be part of all the later problems I have had? And what have I done to the children? Oh crap, literally. How depressing, Roy. One more thing how do we get the right bacteria back into our guts?
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  5. Roy,

    I completely agree that we need to stop and think before medicating ourselves. Same goes for the anti-bacterial hand gel so freely passed around.

    It is true that life evolved to this point without certain forms of medicine. So, that must mean that our Creator must have included natural forms of fighting disease, if we’d all suck it up and realize that not every moment will be a bucket of laughs.

    Sometimes we have to tough it out.

    I do not take even an aspirin or Tylenol unless I’ve tried every other form of natural remedy (resting, drinking water, drinking herbal tea, etc.). Before I consider antibiotics, I’ve had to eliminate every other possibility before I cave. And I’m stubborn! Very few times have I taken antibiotics in my 40-some years.

    There is an economy to medicine, and I believe that has fed our society’s *need* to resort to it…too easily.

    Off my soap box,

    ~Keri
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  6. Great article. It’s really disturbing how much of what we eat has been overprocessed to the point that most of it has questionable nutritional value. I’m as guilty as anyone in our fast paced lives, cutting corners and eating it as well. We are going to start switching back gradually to natural stuff. Shop at our local farmer’s market and support our local economy as well as eat better. I think we’ll be surprised at how nasty this processed food might taste once we eat stuff without it for a length of time.

    I hadn’t realized the link so it’s definitely more food for thought (pun intended) to get us on the right track to healthier eating. With the soil depletion effects as well don’t forget the importance of a good multivitamin. And amen to thinking about what our health professionals tell us. There is nothing wrong with questioning what they say and doing more research as well.
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    1. I’m not sure cutting out antibiotics- except when we need them- will lead to “healthy” eating, but that would be nice, Kathie. Nor am I certain that the local farmer necessarily provides a better product than a more distant one. And, I am vehemently opposed to taking multivitamins- eating a balanced diet (unless one has a specific ailment) provides the vitamins we need in forms we can employ. Most vitamin tablets provide revenue to the maker- and that’s about it. (I am not even talking about how they determine potency, what their processing does to the vitamin, and the fillers they employ- but I could.)

      Roy

    1. Thanks for dropping in, Jack.
      The fact that weight gain is associated with antibiotics really should not have surprised me- after all, that’s one of the reasons that farmers feed them to animals. But, it did. (Thankfully, I don’t take them every day!)

      Roy

  7. I am completely in favor of reducing the use of antibiotics, especially in those cases where is not needed. Things became very frightening in aquaculture where some bacteria (vibrio) showed resistance in very short periods to known antibiotics (floxacines and oxitetracicline). Nowadays, the use of antibiotics are totally forbidden and replaced by probiotics.

    1. The concept of feeding animals antibiotics is counter-productive, Gustavo. Oh, they may grow larger faster, but when and if they get sick, there’s nothing in the cupboard to treat them. And, it makes it tougher for them to work for us, too.

    1. Allie, we do need medicines- whether it’s an injection, a pill, or a liquid…
      We just need to take the medicines that work for the ailment in question. Not just take medicine for disease X when we have disease Y.

      Roy

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