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Antibiotics used for a long time can cause gastrointestinal imbalance. Therefore, the use of antibiotics in combination with some other foods is essential. Probiotics, fermented foods, high fiber foods, Prebiotic foods are such foods.1. What are antibiotics?
An antibiotic is a medicine used to treat bacterial infections. Medicines work to stop the spread of bacteria in the body. There are many different types of antibiotics. Some antibiotics are broad-spectrum, meaning they work against many types of bacteria. While narrow-spectrum antibiotics only kill one or a few types of bacteria.
Antibiotics are very effective in treating serious infections. However, the drug can also cause some side effects. For example, overuse of antibiotics can cause liver damage. A study has shown that antibiotics are one of the drugs that cause the most liver damage.
In addition to killing disease-causing bacteria, antibiotics also kill healthy bacteria. Antibiotics can have an adverse effect on trillions of gut bacteria. Taking too many antibiotics can drastically alter the number and type of bacteria in the gut microbiome, especially in infants and young children. In fact, just one week of antibiotics can change the structure of the gut microbiome for up to a year. Changes to the gut microbiome caused by excessive antibiotic use in early life may also increase the risk of weight gain and obesity. Furthermore, the overuse of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance, making it ineffective at killing disease-causing bacteria. Finally, by altering the types of bacteria that live in the gut, antibiotics can cause intestinal side effects, the most prominent of which is diarrhea.
2. Take probiotics during and after treatment
Taking antibiotics can alter the gut microbiome leading to antibiotic-associated diarrhea, especially in children. The solution given to children is to use probiotics or healthy live bacteria.
However, since probiotics are usually bacteria, they can also be killed by antibiotics if taken together. Therefore, you should give your child antibiotics and probiotics a few hours apart. Probiotics should also be added to the body after a course of antibiotics to restore some of the healthy bacteria that have been destroyed in the gut. If taking probiotics after antibiotics, it's better to take one that contains a mixture of different probiotics, rather than just one.
Thuốc kháng sinh là một loại thuốc dùng để điều trị nhiễm khuẩn
3. Eat fermented foods
Some foods help restore intestinal microflora after antibiotics. Fermented foods are produced by bacteria, including yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, shiitake mushrooms, kimchi, and several others. They contain several species of healthy bacteria such as Lactobacilli that help restore the gut microbiome to a healthy state after antibiotics. Studies have shown that people who eat yogurt or fermented milk have higher levels of Lactobacilli in the gut and lower levels of disease-causing bacteria such as Enterobacteria and Bilophila wadsworthia. Kimchi and fermented soy milk are also good for the digestive system and help develop healthy bacteria in the gut, such as Bifidobacteria. Therefore, eating fermented foods can help improve gut health after taking antibiotics.
Other studies have also found that fermented foods are beneficial during antibiotic treatment. Some of these have shown that taking plain yogurt or a probiotic supplement can reduce diarrhea in people taking antibiotics.
Thực phẩm lên men có chứai vi khuẩn Lactobacilli giúp khôi phục hệ vi sinh vật đường ruột về trạng thái khỏe mạnh
4. Eat foods rich in fiber
Fiber can be digested by intestinal bacteria, helping to stimulate their growth. Therefore, fiber can help restore healthy gut bacteria after a course of antibiotics.
Foods rich in fiber include: Whole grains (porridge, whole grain bread, brown rice), nuts, seeds, lentils, berries, broccoli, peas, bananas, artichokes .
Studies have shown that foods containing fiber not only have the ability to stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut, but can also reduce the growth of some harmful bacteria. However, fiber can slow the time it takes for food to be consumed by the stomach, thereby slowing the rate of drug absorption. Therefore, it is best to temporarily avoid high-fiber foods during antibiotic treatment and instead focus on eating them after stopping antibiotics.
Ăn thực phẩm giàu chất xơ giúp kích thích sự phát triển của vi khuẩn lành mạnh trong ruột
5. Eat Prebiotic Foods
Prebiotics are foods that help feed the beneficial bacteria in the gut like fiber-rich foods. Fiber is digested and fermented by healthy gut bacteria, which in turn helps feed the beneficial bacteria. However, some other foods that don't contain a lot of fiber can also act as prebiotics by feeding healthy bacteria like Bifidobacteria. For example, red wine contains antioxidant polyphenols, which are not digested by the body's cells but are digested by gut bacteria. One study found that consuming red wine polyphenol extract for 4 weeks can significantly increase the amount of healthy Bifidobacteria in the gut, reducing blood pressure and blood cholesterol.
Similarly, cocoa contains antioxidant polyphenols that contain prebiotics beneficial to the gut microbiota. A few studies have shown that cocoa polyphenols also increase Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus in the gut and reduce some unhealthy bacteria, including Clostridia. Therefore, eating prebiotic foods after taking antibiotics can help increase the amount of beneficial gut bacteria that have been reduced by antibiotics.
6. Avoid certain foods that reduce antibiotic effectiveness
Some harmful foods should be avoided during antibiotic use such as grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice taken with antibiotics causes the body to improperly absorb antibiotics, which is harmful to health. Specifically, grapefruit juice contains furanocoumarins, which are substances that inactivate the enzyme CYP3A4 present in the intestinal membrane cells. This is an enzyme that increases drug breakdown causing unexpected drug absorption.
Calcium supplements also interfere with the absorption of antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin (Cipro) and gatifloxacin. But some calcium-containing foods such as yogurt do not cause such an inhibitory effect. Therefore, you can simply avoid foods fortified with high doses of calcium while on antibiotics.
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Reference source: healthline.com
