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Do Antibacterials Kill Good Bacteria?
How to remove the bad stuff and keep the good stuff
Kashif Khan
June 03, 2024
A subscriber recently asked me:
“How can I maintain a healthy gut microbiome in conjunction with antibacterials (methylene blue, oil of oregano, silver, etc.)?
They are antibiotics, presumably, they do not discriminate which bacteria they kill.
Therefore taking these on a regular basis might actually disrupt a healthy gut microbiome?”
As you already know, good gut bacteria is essential for your health.
Good bacteria will make you slim, healthy, and energized, while bad bacteria will do the opposite.
Antibacterials are a great tool for supporting the good bacteria and killing off the bad kind.
While they may kill some good bacteria, this is not something to worry about for two reasons…
#1 Your Body Has Intelligence
Most of what your body does, it does on its own.
For example, your immune system. It knows to eradicate pathogens, but leaves everything else alone.
Similarly, many antibacterials have intelligence inside your body—they’re not like antibiotics which just nuke everything.
Case and point: the Blue Bloods during the bubonic plague (which I spoke about here).
If their good bacteria were eliminated from all the silver they ate, they would have had a poor immune response to the plague.
The opposite was true—they had the best immune response in Europe.
#2 What Matters Is What You Eat
There is a constant battle in your gut between good and bad bacteria.
The outcome of this battle depends on what you eat.
Good food makes good bacteria strong. With the right diet they will thrive, even with antibacterials.
However, if you eat Dunkin Donuts every day, you’ll weaken the good bacteria and they will become more susceptible to antibacterials.
What you choose to eat is the most important thing.
Here are some key things to eat to support good bacteria:
Food diversity in your diet
Plants and fiber
Probiotics (fermented food)
Collagen
Inulin fiber
Chicory root
Antibacterials are generally a positive thing for your gut microbiome.
I’d even argue that losing some good bacteria is worth it, since killing the bad bacteria leaves them with more room to grow.
As with most health interventions, if…
#1 They come from nature
#2 People have been taking them for a long time
… they are most likely a good idea, and with most antibacterials like oil of oregano and colloidcal silver, this is the case.
Until next time,