An international research team found some beneficial bacteria in people's guts may not return after broad-spectrum antibiotic exposure, according to a study published in Nature Microbiology.
Here are three things to know:
1. Researchers said a rich and diverse gut microbiota is beneficial for people, according to Futurity. A lack of microbiota is linked with obesity, diabetes, asthma and gut inflammatory disorders.
2. For the study, researchers from Denmark, China and Germany had 12 healthy men take a combination of three broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly prescribed as a last resort over a four-day period. The three-pill, four-day antibiotic regimen mimics actual intensive care treatments.
3. They found the four-day antibiotic regimen eradicated the men's gut bacteria, which then recovered over the next six months. However, study participants still missed nine common beneficial bacteria in their guts after the six months.
"We show that the gut bacterial community of healthy adults are resilient and able to recover after short-term simultaneous exposure to three different antibiotics. However, our findings also suggest that exposure to broad-spectrum antibiotics may dilute the diversity of the intestinal bacterial ecosystem. Antibiotics can be a blessing for preserving human health but should only be used based upon clear evidence for a bacterial cause of infection," Dr. Olu Pedersen, PhD, professor at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, told Futurity.
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