Medications can influence the community of microbes living in the human gut long after a person stops taking them, according to a large study led by researchers at the University of Tartu Institute of Genomics. The findings suggest that a person's prescription history may help explain differences in the gut microbiome years later. The gut microbiome includes the vast community of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the digestive tract and can influence digestion, metabolism, immune function, and other aspects of health.
Researchers analyzed stool samples and prescription records from more than 2,500 participants in the Estonian Biobank who were part of the Estonian Microbiome cohort. They found that most of the medications examined were associated with differences in the gut microbiome. For a substantial number of drugs, those differences could still be detected years after people had stopped taking the medication.
The lasting effects were not limited to antibiotics, which are already well known for their ability to disrupt populations of gut bacteria. Antidepressants, beta-blockers, proton pump inhibitors, and benzodiazepines were also associated with distinctive microbial "fingerprints." Beta-blockers are commonly used to treat conditions such as high blood pressure and certain heart problems. Proton pump inhibitors reduce stomach acid and are often prescribed for acid reflux and related conditions.
Benzodiazepines are medications commonly used for anxiety and other disorders. "Most microbiome studies only consider current medications, but our results show that past drug use can be just as important as it is a surprisingly strong factor in explaining individual microbiome differences," said Dr. Oliver Aasmets, lead author.
The finding suggests that researchers studying connections between the microbiome and disease may need to look beyond the medications a person is currently taking. Drugs used months or even years earlier could still influence the microbial patterns seen in a stool sample. Anxiety Drugs Show Surprisingly Strong Effects One particularly striking finding involved benzodiazepines, which are commonly prescribed for anxiety.
Their associations with the gut microbiome were comparable to those seen with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are designed to act against many different types of bacteria, which is why they can produce substantial changes in the gut microbial community. The study also found that medications belonging to the same drug class did not necessarily affect the microbiome in the same way.
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