[G Larry]

"Taking antibiotics is likely to have a detrimental impact on the gut microbiota. Antibiotics can unintentionally induce gut dysbiosis, which may lead to permanent changes to the natural gut environment. This disruption to the gut microbiome may be what drives this increase in risk."

After taking 1gr/day for 7 years for severe acne (18-25) I tried expoing to the Doc that was the reason I wasn't digesting anything (esp. dairy) and couldn't gain weight.

While he agreed that my digestive system was "underperforming", he dismissed the idea the antibiotics were a factor. ("Well, uh....there are no studies indicating that".....)

Lesson learned: If the doc hasn't seen a study, you can't possibly be right....

Yes, I've been taking enzymes ever since, but have determined probiotics are most effective.

[ConservativeMind]

There’s much truth in each thing you mentioned.

[ConservativeMind]

Probiotics are much preferred over enzymes.

Bacteria continue without constant need to take more, once established.

[noiseman]

I remember reading about a study a number of years ago that concluded that probiotics have no effect in most cases because the good gut bacteria are not generic, but rather are genetically unique to each individual. In fact, in some cases the generic bacteria actually made things worse.

If subjects received replacement of their own bacteria, then there was a positive effect, but off the shelf probiotics did nothing. I don’t recall how they tested the restoration of your own bacteria, but obviously that’s unlikely to be an option in real daily life.