Summary:
This narrative review examined how antibiotics disrupt the gut microbiota and how these disturbances influence health across the life course. The gut microbiota is a large and diverse community of bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa that supports immunity and metabolism. Antibiotics are a major cause of dysbiosis because they eliminate both harmful and beneficial microbes, reducing microbial diversity and allowing pathogenic species to expand. This study explains that antibiotic‑driven dysbiosis can impair immune function and disturb metabolic balance. It also links these changes to increased risk of obesity, diabetes, liver disease, cardiovascular problems and inflammatory bowel disease. The review describes how maternal antibiotic use during pregnancy may increase risks of asthma, allergies, obesity and immune changes later in childhood. In neonates and infants, antibiotics reduce beneficial bacteria and increase pathogenic ones, contributing to dysbiosis. In adults, the paper reports that antibiotics can cause microbial shifts that persist for weeks, months or even years. Some antibiotics lead to long‑term reductions in diversity and increases in resistant strains. Antibiotic‑induced dysbiosis also affects metabolism, as changes in bile acid processing, short‑chain fatty acid production and other metabolic pathways can influence insulin sensitivity, weight gain and susceptibility to infection. Finally, this study discusses strategies such as probiotics and prebiotics as potential tools for strengthening the intestinal barrier after antibiotic use, supporting beneficial bacteria, modulating immune responses and improving metabolic activity. Overall, this study shows that antibiotics have wide‑ranging effects on the gut microbiota across the lifespan. These changes influence immunity, metabolism, disease risk and antibiotic resistance. Understanding these interactions is essential for improving antibiotic use and developing strategies that protect microbial health.
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Abstract:
Antibiotic use has become problematic because it unintentionally upsets the delicate equilibrium of the human gut microbiota. Antibiotics, especially broad-spectrum ones, that were once regarded as life-saving treatments for bacterial infections instead indiscriminately destroy the good bacteria that are essential for preserving gut health in addition to their target pathogens. Antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis, the term for this disturbance, sets off a series of adverse reactions that negatively impact the gut microbiome, resulting in a decline in microbial diversity and the creation of an environment that is favourable to the establishment of strains that are resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic exposure has wide-ranging effects from prenatal to adulthood; research has shown long-term effects include increased risk of antibiotic resistance, obesity, allergies, asthma, and altered metabolic processes. This thorough investigation emphasises the critical need for a more sophisticated knowledge of the effects of antibiotic therapy on the gut microbiota and the necessity of implementing all-encompassing solutions that reduce its detrimental effects and protect human health throughout life.
Article Publication Date: 13/04/2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.medmic.2024.100106
