Probiotics and… Ahem, Diarrhea

6a00e55255b4628834017eea943b50970d-200wiFor nearly 3 decades, my colleagues in the world of Integrative Medicine and Holistic medicine have been warning about the consequences of excessive antibiotic use, calling for the use of more probiotics and other measures to prevent the consequences of antibiotic use in the digestive system, including yeast overgrowth.

Protocols suggested include probiotics as the foundation for treatment of gut issues. Use of probiotics by physicians for problems associated with antibiotics goes back much further than our three decades, but during the recent 30 years or so, probiotics use seems to have been forgotten by the majority of doctors practicing in this country.

The traditional medical establishment seems to have rediscovered probiotics an article printed in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association)–at least for the condition of diarrhea, which would be a more obvious manifestation of antibiotic overgrowth of yeast and other resistant organisms.

I welcome this study in a popular journal, even though it lacks a prominent mention of the possible relationship to yeast overgrowth from antibiotic use and the other synergistic measures that would help with this problem. Perhaps someday, integrative physicians like myself will be recognized as clinical pioneers than as quacks. And to the authors of the article who have recently explored this treatment, I must add, “You don’t say; what a surprise!”

 I’ve included the abstract from the study below.

To your health,

-Dr. Alan M. Dattner, MD

 

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