Pre-Pro-Post-Anti Biotics and Gut Health

As an Ayurvedic practitioner, restoring and maintaining good gut health is the epicentre of my work and the catapult for becoming the healthiest version of ourselves. When I see clients who have been on a course or a several courses of antibiotics it does not surprise me in the slightest that they are going to have some digestive complaints or in some cases severe issues.

Our body is dependent on good bacteria (or microbes) to regulate the digestive system, support immunity, serotonin production, hormonal balance and so much more. Did you know that the average person has approximately 400 trillion microbes in the gut – and almost 10 trillion more microbes in the gut than the number of cells in the entire human body. So, you can imagine the importance of what goes on in there.

Rather than figuring out how to get rid of bad gut bacteria, you’ll come to discover that restoring the gut flora and supporting good gut bacteria is far more rewarding in the long run. We need our gut to be an environment of diverse microbes living together but if this is not the case then some bacteria (the not so good ones) can grow out of control and can lead to dysbiosis. So, paying attention to your digestive health is critical! Are you hungry? Are you evacuating daily? Do you digest food well? Do you get gas, bloating, or indigestion? Our gut is always communicating, and it will serve us to really listen up.

Antibiotics & Ayurveda

The idea behind the modern medicine of antibiotics such as penicillin (discovered my Alexandra Fleming in 1928) was a solution to stop how human beings get sick from bacteria, virus, parasite, or fungus by killing these invaders.

This invention was truly genius as it helped humanity survive many diseases, but it also has limitations. When we talk about Ayurvedic therapeutics which we call chikitsa, the idea is very different.

In our ancient Ayurvedic texts, the idea behind treatment is to support the person's immune system. The focus is to strengthen agni (metabolic capacity) and subsequently support the persons’ natural immune system. So, this leads to the premise that sickness comes from the person being off balance not the attack of a bacteria.

The human body is an ecosystem, based on our unique constitution, and influenced by the season, time in our life, time of the day, our diet and lifestyle and as a result we can become out of balance. This is then what leads to the manifestation as a disease.

So, the role of an Ayurvedic practitioner is to support and teach a person how to stay in balance so that they can regain their natural ability to fight off various invaders and re-establish natural health. The concept of antibiotics did not exist 5000 years ago, but the wisdom of the natural world enabled doctors to know the properties of the plant medicines (dravya or aushadi) that can have the ‘antibiotic’ effect. But the notion is to support the patient to regain their own health.

Antibiotics can be thought of as a powerful immediate protocol against bacterial infections. Anti - mean ‘against’ so they sure can effectively kill and prevent the harmful bacteria that cause pain and disease. However, we have become accustomed to taking the approach that ‘if in doubt, throw a broad-spectrum antibiotic at it to fix the problem’. Unfortunately, that comes at a heavy price to our gut health and oftentimes long-term changes to our gut flora.

So, should we be using them as the first line of defence? One recent example of this was when my nephew was prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotics (by a dentist) for a cut in his lip after a nasty fall and it was supposedly infected – In my eyes too small an issue to warrant antibiotics – especially to an 11-year-old! We immediately took an alternative and more natural course of action and with a little care and attention, the infection passed as expected within a few days.

If you suffer with compromised immunity, yeast infections, allergies, and other underlying health issues then antibiotics can have an even more adverse reaction to the body than in a normal infectious situation. Some research shows that some antibiotics (commonly including tetracyclines and macrolides) not only kills the bad bacteria but also kills the healthy gut bacteria during its use. This now compromised gut microbiota can lead to gastrointestinal disturbances and recurring ailments. Firstly, we largely reduce the microbe diversity and reduce the antibiotic resistant as well as alter the metabolic activity. This might display itself and gut health issues including diarrhoea, nausea, gas, bloating, constipation, change in appetite and hunger, difficulty in digesting, food intolerances, yeast infections etc.

Don’t get me wrong, Antibiotics has been revolutionary to western medicine and certainly has their place and in some instances of emergency, it may seem to be the only solution. However, I believe they have become overused now, and, in many cases, there can be other alternative and natural solution that don’t have the adverse side effects.

I am an avid supporter of ensuring that everyone has a balance of pre-and pro biotics in their diet to act as a support both after having had a course of antibiotics but also as a standard way of eating which becomes preventative medicine. The cornerstone of Ayurveda.

We can start to now appreciate the complexity of out gut health and its impact on our overall health. So, it is also useful to understand the role of pre and pro biotics.

The role of probiotics

Over 70% of our immunity is housed in our gut, so for me it’s a no brainer how important gut health is. Probiotics are good live bacteria and yeasts that naturally live in your body and support the digestive system. Good bacteria such as lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, streptococci help eliminate extra bad bacteria and restore balance.

Taking small amounts of probiotics daily can reduce harmful bacteria and increase good bacteria in your gut, thus supporting your immune system, and especially essential post antibiotics.

If you lack probiotics in your diet. or have digestive issues, you can take probiotics as a supplement or get them through food, beverages, and probiotic capsules. Your best bet is to always include foods that contain healthy bacteria — things like ayurvedic buttermilk (takra) yogurt, kefir, kimchi, fermented pickles, miso soup, tempeh, cottage cheese, sauerkraut and kombucha contain naturally occurring probiotics that nourish the good gut bacteria. You can also feed the bacteria in your gut by eating fibre-rich foods, such as nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peas and berries. Takra is particularly beneficial as it is designed to reach to colon with more chance of having active bacteria (read post on takra).

Good levels of probiotics can support digestive health, restful sleep, immunity, brain health, energy levels, mood & memory, healthy skin hair and nails, liver function, balanced cholesterol and so much more.

The role of prebiotics

While there is a lot of noise and trends around probiotics. Prebiotics are often overlooked but in my opinion are equally important as the are items that our body can’t digest as nourishment for our cells, so they go to the lower digestive tract and become food for the healthy bacteria. The role of prebiotics (found in nutrients and fibre from plant foods) are to feed the healthy bacteria, allowing them to thrive, nourish the gut lining and maintain the balance and effectiveness of the microbiome. One of the best such prebiotic is inulin. Inulin helps the diversity of the gut microbiome and provides an excellent source of food for good bacteria that help synthesise substances such as short-chain fatty acids and vitamins.

Prebiotics foods include apples asparagus, beetroot, barley, bananas, berries, burdock, cabbage, chicory (salad), chickpeas, cacao, dandelion root/greens, endives, fennel, flaxseeds, grapefruit, garlic, green veggies, jicama, Jerusalem artichokes, konjac root, leeks, legumes (beans), mushrooms, nectarines, onions, oats, pomegranate, radicchio, red kidney beans, soybeans, snow peas, watermelon, white pears, wheat, yacon root.

Postbiotics
Postbiotics are organically produced in the gut when the healthy bacteria (probiotics) in our gut consume the prebiotics (fibre), resulting in bioactive compounds. Quite often the associated health benefits are the result of the processing of the pre and pro biotics that contributes to healthy elimination keeping the whole digestive system in check.

Ayurvedic bacterial infection support

Through the timeless wisdom of Ayurveda, we have access to a myriad of herbs and spices with potent antibacterial, anti-fungal, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory effects, and it’s certainly worth consulting your practitioner for guidance of what will work best for your concerns. It’s also clear that Ayurveda does not take the quick fix approach and while herbs will have a profound effect as medicine in the body, the support of dietary and lifestyle changes greatly enhance the recovery process and prevention of further infections by building acquired immune resilience.

Some simple and easy to access ingredients can include garlic, turmeric, honey, ginger, cloves, echinacea, tulsi, neem, guggul (myrr), thyme, oregano, cinnamon, triphala, goldenseal as well as good sources of B12 which can also vastly improve gut health.