Chronic Conditions
Jigsaw Health Products
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10 Common Causes of Chronic Conditions: Cause #3
3. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics.
In the intestinal tract, there are many highly beneficial bacteria that serve
various purposes. For example, one reason some people don’t get sick when they
eat spoiled food is that their intestinal tract is full of highly beneficial
bacteria like acidophilus and bifodobacteria. Because of these
healthy bacteria, the "bad" bacteria in spoiled food do not have room to
multiply to the degree that they make that person sick.
Antibiotics: A Real Killer
These "friendly" bacteria are actually a vital part of our
immune system. They play a critical role in breaking down food so that we can
fully absorb the nutrients in the food we eat. Unfortunately, these "good guys"
are wiped out by the overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics. While it’s true that
antibiotics can virtually be a lifesaver in acute infections, modern medicine
tends to overuse broad-spectrum antibiotics as a "catch all" or "quick fix,"
which wreaks havoc on the digestive and immune systems, and also creates an
opportunity for "superbugs" to develop (bacteria that mutate and become highly
resistant to any antibiotic
treatment).
Broad-spectrum antibiotics kill bacteria without prejudice,
meaning that they wipe out both the "good" bacteria and the "bad" bacteria in
our bodies. The good bacteria, known as
probiotics (acidophilus
and bifodobacteria being two of the more common strains), are
essential for optimal digestion and well-being. For those people who have
overused antibiotics at any point in their lives, they
generally have a severe imbalance of intestinal flora. That’s because the good
bacteria are wiped out, and they never
get replenished.
The Standard American Diet is sadly deficient in probiotics,
and so we never get an opportunity to ingest enough good bacteria to keep all
the bad bacteria at bay. The bad bacteria found in our food and environment
multiply unchecked in our digestive tract.
In order to restore a healthy balance in the digestive tract,
it is essential to continually restore the body’s supply of probiotics. Some
researchers estimate as many as 70 trillion bacteria live in our intestines. If
you have a high percentage of bad bugs, adding just a few billion good bugs into
this hostile environment will have very little effect. Anyone who has
serious gut problems typically needs between 100 billion and 400 billion probiotics
per day.
< Back to "10 Common Causes of Chronic Conditions" Homepage
Last Updated: Thursday, June 07, 2007
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