Heres what Dr. B wants you to know.

Gut health has been a focus in the nutrition space for quite some time.

On the show, the pair discussed understanding antibiotics and their effect on the gut.

an illustration of a gut with pills overlaid

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Here’s what the doctor had to say about the correlation.

“There are three main things that happen within the microbiome when you take antibiotics,” Bulsiewicz explained.

“One, a loss of diversity.

Two, you are causing widespread damage to the species.

And three, you are choosing and selecting the resistance microbes.”

Bulsiewicz suggests that taking long-term antibiotics can cause “medically induced dysbiosis.

“Dysbiosisis a disruption to the gut microbiome which causes an imbalance within its microorganisms.

Symptoms of the illness include digestive problems, inflammation and chronic fatigue.

Some participants in the study experienced negative symptoms to the gut microbiome, including serious infection in the colon.

“The people that are most at risk are people with inflammatory bowel disease,” Bulsiewicz cautioned.

Bulsiewicz agrees thatantibiotics are helpful and neededwhen treating an infection.

However, antibiotic overuse is common, with the CDC estimating that 1 in 3 antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary.

Though antibiotics play an important role in treating infections, they are not a cure-all for every illness.

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