How Antibiotic Exposure Impacts Our Microbiome

Those of us practicing functional medicine are not only aware ,but also quite concerned about the impact of antibiotic usage on our microbiome,
defined as the community of microorganisms that inhabit a particular environment. The gut is but one of these important sites. No doubt antibiotics can be life saving, but there are drawbacks.They can disrupt the microbiome, and can contribute to potentially serious consequences. Traditional medicine has tended to focus on resistance and treatment failure,as it relates to the use of antibiotics. Fortunately now, as you can see from this peer-related website , there is a compelling need to look at the effects on the microbiome. This is complex science as the number of microbes (bacteria,fungi and viruses) in our body outnumber us 10:1 (100 trillion microbes within the 10 trillion cells within our body). But it's not just about the microbes themselves,but also their metabolites. So we are now entering the world of metabolomics I find this work very promising and beyond necessary as it relates to chronic diseases involving the cardiovascular system, inflammation and the central nervous system to name a few..

 

Read original article here: https://www.medpagetoday.com/resource-centers/infectious-diseases/antibiotic-exposure-and-microbiome/1138?xid=NL_mpt_special_reports_2018-02-26&eun=g565590d0r

chelsea barocio