Antibiotics create hunger and damage gut flora

​A couple of articles in the weekend paper caught my attention this week. The one that caught my eye first was about how pythons digest their prey. It seems their internal organs double in size while they do that, then return to normal. The article offers implications for heart health, and information about how cells can respond to certain fatty acids and increase dramatically in size.
I was mostly interested from the viewpoint of a child reading Le Petit Prince, where the picture of a hat is actually a picture of a python digesting a large animal.

The second article, though, entitled Antibiotics Could Make You Sick, has implications for all of us. As a trained functional medicine health practitioner, we are schooled first and foremost in the concept of healthy gut flora. The bacteria in our gut is responsible for health and disease processes with profound implications.

Antibiotics. We have known for twenty years or more that antibiotic use creates problems unintended later in life. As a medical market researcher, I learned about the dangers of the development of antibiotic-resistant 'bugs' as they were called in the media, that invade hospitals and resist the treatments medicine is used to using.

Antibiotics, that have saved millions of lives, over the decades since their discovery, erode our health.. When used to treat ear infections, bladder infections and other common afflictions on a regular basis, they seriously compromise our natural defenses. 

They affect the health of the gut flora. We have all been told to eat yogurt, to replenish the bacteria lost when on a course of antibiotics. My work in market research allowed me to help develop the marketing communications platforms for yogurts with 'active acidophilus' and other 'good bacteria', so I was schooled in that from a commercial point of view too.

One of the problems involves ghrelin, the enzyme that promotes feelings of hunger. The article in the paper points to research done on the relationship between gut flora health and this enzyme that promotes the feelings of hunger. Body fat increases when antibiotics are given to children for common ear and throat infections, for example.

The what that happens, here related to ghrelin, is less significant than the fact that our natural balance is affected. Every time an unnatural, potent remedy is used, it takes a few decades before the research is in on 'what else' is going on that is not so good. Natural remedies are mostly just that: natural herbs and plants that have been used with good effect for thousands of years on the human body. There's a difference.

In my household, the medicine cabinet has alternative products for common ailments. We use Yin Chaio for colds and flu symptoms, that puts a cold away within 24 hours by boosting the immune system and increasing the energy of the lungs. We use Hsaio Yao Wan for headache, PMS symptoms or hangover from any toxic combination of food or drink. We have the most delicious Fruitillary Loquat Syrup for coughs, that strengthens the lungs while it soothes the mucus membranes. We use Arnica gel for aches and bruises. We use Oil of Wild Oregano for all infections or possible infections, the most potent antibiotic and antiviral substance there is. A tiny drop of that under the tongue zaps any sore throat within hours, naturally. We have flower essences (like Rescue Remedy) for emotional upsets. I still have a bottle labeled Rescue Redemy, made for me by a dyslexic classmate friend when we were in natural health classes together.

Naturally, we need to say that you should not do this or that without the advice of your physician, in Canada, like in the US, for liability, so I also should say that the opinions on this blog are for information purposes and are not meant to replace your doctor's advice. Except when I am really sick, I go straight for acupuncture, that helps within 24 beautiful hours without drugs. With the state of my local healthcare facilities these days, we could find ourselves waiting for 24 hours in a hospital emergency room in my neck of the woods these days, for a prescription of antibiotics we then need to go fill at the local drug store.
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Advocating natural, herb or food based remedies that have far-reaching health benefits is the central mission of all functional medicine practitioners. We look for root cause, and then apply as natural remedies as are available. Be well, and try to learn more about natural remedies that do not have side effects or contraindications. Your intelligent body will thank you.