Is It Worth Taking Probiotics During Antibiotic Treatment?

Taking probiotics during the course of an antibiotic would theoretically help a lot of people by preventing side effects of antibiotics. Such side effects can include an upset stomach, diarrhea, candidiasis and thrush which can occur when the good bacteria in your gut is killed by antibiotics. It would make sense that if people could take a good probiotic during the treatment, these side effects could be reduced or eliminated. So are probiotics helpful while taking an antibiotic?

Some of the bestselling probiotics are

1. New Chapter Probiotic All-Flora
   
2. Jarrow Formulas Jarro-dophilus EPS
   
3. Bio-Kult Probiotic
4. Garden of Life Primal Defense Ultra Ultimate Probiotics Formula
   Or learn about Delayed Release Probiotics

If you’re in a pickle, antibiotics to the rescue

Antibiotics are a blessing if you have a bacterial infection, especially if it’s more severe. Hopefully after the first round of antibiotics the treatment will be successful and you will be infection free, however sometimes this is not the case and a few courses of antibiotics are requires.

The downside

However beneficial, taking antibiotics can do number on the good bacteria in your gut and put things out of balance. The treatment leaves your body depleted, especially if taken for longer than 10 days or multiple times. It leaves you wondering, what can be done to support your gut bacteria before, during and after antibiotics?

There are some things you can do while taking an antibiotic to help microflora balance.What do probiotic manufacturers have to say?

I contacted several different probiotic manufacturers asking them the question, Has anyone developed probiotics that would be beneficial to take during a course of antibiotics?  One valuable response from a probiotic company is listed below:

Unfortunately as with all probiotic products many of the strains within Bio-Kult will probably get destroyed by antibiotics. This effect is stronger with a broad spectrum antibiotic. This is why we recommend Bio-Kult is taken 2 hours apart from the antibiotic so there is more chance of survival and they can still exert a positive benefit in the gut. Probiotics have been shown to competitively exclude any further pathogens in the environment such as C. difficult which is often the cause of anti-biotic associated diarrhea. To help maintain a balanced microflora and to prevent antibiotic associated diarrhea we recommend taking Bio-Kult during antibiotic use (2 hours apart) and for at least 2 weeks after.

I hope this has been helpful, if you do require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

www.protexin.com

Another response from this time from Swanson:

Is it worth taking probiotics while taking antibiotics?

The answer to this seems to be yes. Although some will be destroyed, there have been several studies indicating that taking a probiotic at the same time as an antibiotic does indeed reduce diarrhea and other side effects of the antibiotics. The probiotics (in the studies, mostly acidophillus) are taken away from the antibiotic but during the course of treatment and continued for several weeks after. So if you take the antibiotic several times during the day, have some probiotic supplements at night, especially if you wake up during the night (put some on your night stand with a glass of water).