does the gut microbiome ever fully recover from antibiotics?
When you take antibiotics, it's not just the bad bacteria that are killed. beneficial bacteria in your gut microbiome also get wiped out, often leading to temporary gut dysbiosis. While probiotics can help restore some of the lost diversity, does the microbiome ever fully recover?
A recent study suggests that it may not. Researchers looked at fecal samples from healthy adults before and after they took a course of antibiotics. They found that while Diversity Index and even some specific bacterial populations bounced back after probiotic supplementation, overall taxonomic richness never recovered to its pre-antibiotic state.
This doesn't mean that you should never take antibiotics again - they're still an important tool in our medical arsenal. But it's something to keep in mind if you're experiencing chronic gut dysbiosis or other antibiotic-related health problems.