Antibiotics are similar to highly motivated soldiers, armed to the teeth, which hunt down and kill the enemy – the enemy being “bad” (harmful) bacteria that cause infections in the human body. Antibiotics very effectively wipe out whole colonies of bacteria.
When the battle cry runs out, these soldiers attack the enemy called “Bacteria” in specialised ways:
- by preventing bacteria to form cell walls;
- by dissolving their cell walls;
- by disabling the bacterial cells’ ability to build proteins, without which they cannot survive;
- and by breaking up the bacteria’s DNA, without which they cannot reproduce.
Alas, were these soldiers rather assassins or snipers that killed selectively, then the “good” (beneficial) bacteria in the body would also have survived!
The soldiers kill indiscriminately and create havoc amongst the beneficial bacteria in your intestines. The adult gastro-intestinal tract is about 8m long and lined with about 2kg’s worth of beneficial bacteria. Antibiotics wipe out these bacteria as well, upsetting the delicate balance and often allowing, amongst others, yeast growth to flourish.
As in any war zone, recovery operations by the civilian population is needed when the soldiers have left. The “good” bacteria in the intestines can be replaced with a high quality probiotic supplement, preferably one from human origin. This will be greatly assisted by following a healthy balanced diet, such as the Mediterranean way of eating, which if becomes the permanent choice of nutrition, ensures overall health for the future. Recovery operations however are not completed overnight and it takes time for the trauma of war to heal.
