Missing Vitamins and Bacterial Resistance

One of the services offered by CHI is a review of the drugs you are taking and what nutrient depletion they cause.

This has been a specific interest of mine since the early 1980s.
Today I was gladdened by a report on a study that looked at how a form of vitamin B3 might be helpful in reducing your risk of contracting a secondary infection as a result of being prescribed antibiotics.

Prior to this news report today. back in 2001 it was a concern in Public Health

THE RISE OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE: DEPLETING A PUBLIC RESOURCE
January 10, 2001 RFF's 1st Floor Conference Room : 1616 P Street NW Washington D.C. 20036-1400 U.S.A.
In recent years bacteria have become increasingly resistant to antibiotics, leading to a decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics in treating infectious disease. The particular approaches that individuals and physicians use in selecting an antibiotic have been identified as a primary cause of this decline. Laxminarayan will suggest that bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics can be considered a public good (or common property resource). As such, it lends itself nicely to analysis, and he will address key economic issues and tradeoffs related to drug resistance. Researcher: Margaret A Walls.

Antibiotics: Besides destroying beneficial gut bacteria that aid digestion, protect against infection, and synthesize certain nutrients, tetracyclines (achromycin, sumycin, tetracap, panmycin), penicillins, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, and sulfonamides, deplete the body of B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, biotin, inositol, vitamin K, iron, and magnesium. The complete reference can be found at http://www.leaflady.org/drugsdeplete.htm

Today, UPI reports that B3 may combat fungal infection, but B3 might not be enough.

MONTREAL, July 12 (UPI) -- Canadian researchers say vitamin B3 may be effective in fighting infections
Researchers at the University of Montreal say studies in mice indicate C. albicans enzyme, known as Hst3 -- essential to the growth and survival of the yeast infection Candida albicans -- can be inhibited with nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3.
"There is an urgent need to develop new therapies to kill C. albicans because it is one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections and is associated with high mortality rates," researcher Martine Raymond said in a statement. "Although many issues remain to be investigated, the results of our study are very exciting and they constitute an important first step in the development of new therapeutic agents to treat fungal infections without major side effects for patients."
The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, concluded both normal and drug-resistant strains of C. albicans were susceptible to nicotinamide.

In the early 1970s when I started working in ICU the issue of secondary infection from overuse of antibiotics was constantly in discussion.

And here we are now...

Posted in: antibiotics deplete B vitamins,fungal infection,the leaflady,vitamin B3