Antibiotics May Be Hurting Your Memory

Antibiotics may be hurting your memory ability. You go to the doctor for a cold and the doc gives you an antibiotic to take even though your cold was caused by a virus and antibiotic drugs don’t kill viruses. The problem is taking the antibiotic drug also kills the good bacteria in your gut.

You might be saying, “No big deal”. Well, it actually is a very big deal. The antibiotic may also be inhibiting the growth of new cells in the part of the brain associated with memory. The researchers believe that the antibiotic is causing this damage by lowering levels of a type of white blood cell that is thought to connect the gut, brain and immune system.

So…what you need to do if you can’t avoid taking the antibiotic for an infection, as these researchers suggest, is to take a probiotic supplement at the same time as the antibiotic. Keep taking the supplement for several weeks after the surgery to keep developing and feeding the good bacteria.
(Reported Prevention, August 2016)

Alleviating Depression And Anxiety Through Your Gut

A study from Griffith University in Australian reported in Prevention Magazine analyzed the effects of taking probiotic supplements on participant’s levels of depression and anxiety. The researchers found that taking the supplement reduced the participant’s symptoms. This could be due to the level of communication between the brain and your digestive system. They also found that healthy people taking the supplement were better able to manage stressful situations. I would recommend taking a supplement that is in the 25 to 50 billion range and has a variety of bacteria strains in it. You can also add probiotic-rich foods to your diet which includes pickles, sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir and aged cheeses like cheddar and Gouda. So…take your supplement or eat up to reduce your anxiety, depression or stress.