Antibiotic Madness

The frequency of food allergy has increased over the past 30 years. It is thought that allergies and increased sensitivity to foods are probably environmental, and related to Western lifestyles. Factors may include pollution, dietary changes and less exposure to microbes, which change how our immune systems respond.

There are dozens of different probiotic bacteria that are good for us. The two common groups are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.

The complex mix of gut bacteria inside us is called gut flora or microbiota, and it contains hundreds of different types of microorganisms, including yeast and viruses.
Our gut bacteria, or gut flora has so much metabolic activity that it is referred to as the forgotten organ. The functions it performs include manufacturing of Vitamin K and Vitamin B, turning fibers into short-chain fats, strengthening of our gut wall and improving the immune system.

An unbalanced gut flora, which happens when our diet is sub-optimal leads to numerous diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and chronic depression.

When people take antibiotics, they experience a lot of problems like diarrhea, as the natural bacteria in our guts has been eradicated due to the use of antibiotics.

There has been a lot of hype around the health benefits of prebiotics and probiotics in recent years, but while they're increasingly used in treatments including inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, several reviews suggest there needs to be further research on which strains and dosages are effective. Recent studies have found some people are even immune to probiotics.

Gut microbiota has a major role to play in the health and function of the GI tract, with evidence that conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) often coincide with altered microbiota. But it also plays a much wider role in our health, and this is largely determined in the first few years of life.