Top 10 Bizarre Food-Related Phobias People Actually Suffer From

Food is something most of us enjoy—sometimes, a little too much. So it may be hard to believe that some people are afraid of food. But it can become a crippling daily reality for these folks.

Although phobias can be difficult to deal with in general, food phobias are often worse because they create social stress and have the potential to wreak havoc on one’s well-being. Some food phobias can be avoided. But as we’ll see, others are far more serious. 

Deipnophobia
The Fear Of Dining Or Dinner Conversations

The idea of family holiday get-togethers is enough to make many of us cringe, but for some, the idea is downright terrifying. People who suffer from deipnophobia prefer to eat in silence and usually alone.[1]

This means that it is a hard pass on family holiday meals and dinner dates with friends. This is often the result of a singular traumatic event such as a failed dinner date or a business interaction over a luncheon that went awry.

Since deipnophobia is a social phobia, it also means that it is the result of genetics. Troubled childhoods and failed social experiences are all contributing factors. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and cognitive therapy offer hope for those with deipnophobia. 

Oenophobia
The Fear Of Wine

A day of touring wineries and participating in wine tastings may sound like the optimal day for some, but those with oenophobia would disagree. A fear of wineis pretty frustrating because wine is just about everywhere.[2] This condition makes eating out difficult, and trips to the grocery store become awful as most places have an entire aisle dedicated to wine and spirits.

In some cases, this fear can pertain to the inability to choose the right wine for a gathering. Those suffering from this disease are afraid that if they choose the wrong wine, then those at the party will blame the host.

It may not sound serious, but those suffering from this disease can have the same symptoms as people with anxiety: shortness of breath, tremors, and a severe inability to cope with the situation. Those severely stricken with this phobia may vomit if they accidentally imbibe wine.

Behavioral therapy is the usual choice to cure those afflicted with oenophobia, but cognitive psychotherapy may be used as well. 

Lachanophobia
The Fear Of Vegetables

This is the phobia most children would happily claim if they could pronounce it. Most people don’t really have lachanophobia but rather a strong dislike or aversion to vegetables. Those with an actual fear of vegetables find that grocery shopping and eating out present a real challenge. Just the sight of produce can induce shortness of breath and nausea.[3]

For those who suffer from lachanophobia, eating a balanced diet can difficult as starchy foods and sugars often act as replacements for side dishes. While most of us can agree that cake and pasta are far more fun than broccoli and leafy greens, the vitamin deficiencies and other potential dietary issues that can stem from lachanophobia make it a far more threatening condition than it may appear. 

Mageirocophobia
The Fear Of Cooking

No one likes scraping their latest culinary experiment off their cookware, but for those who suffer from mageirocophobia, this is the nightmare scenario that keeps them out of the kitchen. Ranging from avoidance of the kitchen to a collection of takeout menus stuffed in a drawer to panic attacks and anxiety at the very thought of cooking, this can be a very expensive problem.[4]

Mageirocophobia is a social phobia that can take many forms. Some are terrified of the idea of giving people food poisoning or conjuring up an inedible entree. Others are concerned about plating issues. The idea of serving up ugly food overwhelms them entirely and makes it impossible to cook. Still others fear the idea of getting cuts or burns while cooking.

Whatever the underlying fear is, it can completely destroy a person’s ability to function in the kitchen. Eating out or ordering in is a lifestyle for those with severe cases. Those with milder cases can eat sandwiches and microwave entrees to fill in the gaps 

Arachibutyrophobia
The Fear Of Peanut Butter Sticking To The Roof Of The Mouth

This is an incredibly specific fear and perhaps the easiest phobia on this list to deal with: Simply don’t eat peanut butter. The terror comes from the idea of possible suffocation from eating the sticky sandwich spread. But sufferers don’t have problems with seeing peanut butter or being around it, which is definitely a perk if you live in America where peanut butter is a pantry staple.

This phobia has many degrees of severity, which depend upon the individual.[5]Symptoms can range from agitation to panic and anxiety. It also may manifest into terrifying physical symptoms that range from a nervous sweat and irregular breathing to shaking, irregular heartbeat, and choking.

Even though people with arachibutyrophobia know that their fear is baseless and irrational, it doesn’t seem to help. The fear creeps in regardless.

Though horrible, this fear is easy enough to avoid. For sufferers with milder versions and a love for peanut butter, switching to crunchy peanut butter with its less sticky texture can make all the difference. Others learn to drink specific liquids while they eat peanut butter to help break down the stickiness. The more severe cases avoid peanut butter at all costs and may even avoid peanuts. 

Xocolatophobia
The Fear Of Chocolate

This is almost beyond comprehension. Afraid of chocolate? Imagine the foods associated with so many holidays in the US: Valentine’s Day chocolates, Easterbunnies, and Halloween candy, to name a few. This would truly be a rough phobia. You would not only miss out on chocolate and all its awesomeness, but you would live in a world where it is practically unavoidable.

This can easily create tension in social situations,[6] frustration when shopping with chocolaty candy bars residing at every checkout, and even highly stressful situations at work as there is always that one coworker who keeps candies on her desk.

Extreme cases may find chocolate vulgar. In fact, if they touch anything chocolaty, then they must immediately run to the nearest sink to wash it off. 

Orthorexia
The Fear Of Eating Food That Is Not Pure

Okay, so orthorexia is not officially an eating disorder. Yet the number of patients exhibiting an obsession with eating healthy is growing. A physician describing his own relationship with food first coined the term “orthorexia” in 1997.[7]

Too much healthy eating doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but these people take it to the extreme. While too much fat, sugar, and salt isn’t good for you, eliminating these things completely is bad, too.

An obsessive behavior that is still not recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, orthorexia nervosa has many of the same symptoms as anorexia nervosa. While those with anorexia worry about the quantity of food they consume, those with orthorexia obsess over the quality.

Orthorexics are so concerned with the purity of their food that they tend to restrict their diets in unsafe ways. For example, they may eliminate entire food groups such as dairy and grains. These boundaries can continue to tighten as other foods are deemed “impure” over time.

Finding pure food becomes an obsession for those dealing with orthorexia. Only organic food will do, and the food must be prepared in the “proper” way. It is not uncommon for orthorexics to spend hours shopping for the right foods to take home and prepare themselves.

In a cruel twist of fate, this extreme crusade to eat healthy is actually super unhealthy. Malnourishment can result as important food groups are eliminated and the body ultimately begins to ignore or not recognize its own hunger signals. 

Ichthyophobia
The Fear Of All Things Fish

Though the nature of this phobia may sound fishy, don’t tell an ichthyophobe that! Just the mention of fish is off the table for those with this phobia. The sight or smell of fish—and even the idea of swimming where fish may be—is frightening to them. This means no swimming in the ocean and definitely no sushi bars.[8]

Often, the fear stems from the idea that eating the mercury and other contaminants in fish could lead to illness. In other cases, the sight of a fish can act as an omen to warn the ichthyophobe of impending doom.

Those suffering from this strange disease can get dry mouth, anxiety, dizziness, and shaking. For ichthyophobes, avoidance is often the easiest route. This means no fishing trips, no fish movies (sorry, Dory!), and no trips to pet stores and aquariums.

Since no direct cause for this phobia is known, there are several prospective ways to treat it. The most common are hypnotherapy, neurolinguistic programming, and exposure therapy. 

Phagophobia
The Fear Of Swallowing Food, Pills, Or Liquids

Degrees of phagophobia can be so bad that a person can be terrified to swallow his own saliva. Commonly stemming from the fear of choking, this phobia can be life-threatening. With malnutrition and dehydration as inevitable consequences, people with phagophobia tend to skip meals as often as possible. When they absolutely have to eat, they use work-arounds such as overchewing and avoiding certain textures.[9]

Phagophobia is a notoriously difficult fear to contend with. In many cases, it feels like there is something stuck in the throat. But when people with this phobia go to the doctor, nothing is found. The sensation is persistent, but in all actuality, that is all it is: a sensation. There’s nothing actually there.

It is hard to imagine not being able to sustain yourself due to crippling terror. Then you seek help only to find that most healthcare professionals can’t pinpoint what is wrong. This has to be a truly awful way to live. 

Cibophobia (Sitophobia)
The Fear Of All Food

Given that we need food to live, the magnitude of cibophobia cannot be overstated. What can you do when you are terrified of the very thing that you need to stay alive?

Avoiding food for any length of time isn’t an option, so where does that leave you? Oh yeah, hungry. Forever. On the bright side, most sufferers are not so afraid that they forgo any food or drink. Instead, they fear foods prepared by people whom they don’t know, are obsessive about expiration dates on food, and are more afraid of beef and chicken.

This can be a lethal phobia and must be addressed as soon as possible. Though psychotherapy has shown promise in patients with cibophobia, this is by far the worst food phobia of them all.[10]

10 Everyday Foods That Caused Horrific Events

There is a monster hiding in your house. Many, actually. They’re watching you, waiting. They’re in your refrigerator, your oven, and your kitchen cabinets, because it seems one of the most dangerous things you handle each day is your food. The ways in which your diet can come back to haunt you range far beyond heart disease and diabetes. Human history is rife with horrific episodes brought about by nothing more than this most basic necessity. One look at these ferocious foodstuffs, and you’ll never turn your back on your local supermarket again. 

Bread

During the 1800s, England’s population was growing faster than ever before. In fact, by 1850, London had become the largest city in history. But this sudden, enormous growth led to serious shortages of day-to-day items, and profiteering manufacturers were quick to respond . . . by packing their products with whatever they could find lying around their garage.

Plaster of Paris and even chalk were used to stretch out actual ingredients, but the worst was the use of toxic alum.[1] Safer versions of alum are used for things like pickling, but the dangerous variety—used in modern-day washing detergents—was used heavily in bread. Not only did it allow for more loaves per batch, but it also gave them a more attractive white color. The thing is, alum prevents actual food from being absorbed by the intestines. In the end, this practice led to an epidemic of severe malnutrition, diarrhea, and even the deaths of many children, as starving citizens were unable to digest what meager scraps they could find. 

Corn

The early 20th century saw the American South gripped by a nightmarish new disease. Sickening skin lesions and madness were the calling cards of the mysterious malady, which took over 100,000 lives between 1906 and 1940. Worse yet, no one could figure out where this “pellagra” even came from.

That is, until Dr. Joseph Goldberger came along. The Pennsylvania physician joined the Public Health Service in 1899 and had spent the last few decades traveling the country solving medical mysteries. It occurred to him that the disease only struck the especially poor, who survived on a diet composed almost entirely of nice, cheap corn.

His dietary findings didn’t go down well with Southern doctors, though, who were convinced the illness was caused by a germ. So Dr. Goldberger proved it wasn’t contagious by swallowing the scabs from an infected patient’s sores as well as infected urine and feces.[2] He didn’t catch the dreaded disease, and his work helped to unmask pellagra as a simple niacin deficiency. 

Wine

A symbol of class and refinement for millennia, wine would seem like one of the least harmful things on the planet (unless you count the occasional drunken fistfight). But just try telling that to English nobleman George Plantagenet.

The duke of Clarence and brother of King Edward IV, Plantagenet found himself involved in a Game of Thrones–style medieval power struggle in the late 1400s. Constantly at odds with his brother, he began scheming to remove him from the throne. However, before his rebellion could even start, King Edward beat him to the punch. Plantagenet was secretly imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed on February 18, 1478.

Despite beheading being the traditional fate of traitors, Edward instead had a final insult planned for his sibling. He ordered Plantagenet drowned in a barrel of his favorite drink, malmsey wine.[3] After his uniquely ironic execution, some believe his body was left in the barrel when it was sent off to be buried. 

Chocolate

 

In the early 20th century, the world stumbled upon a miracle. By simply adding a small amount of a newly documented element, any humdrum object could be made the stuff of fairy tales. Clock faces and cosmetics were dressed up with the miraculous glowing material. Candy manufacturers even began adding it to their chocolate for its supposedly invigorating qualities. Too bad it was radioactive.

Radium-infused chocolate was only one dangerous product that people were woefully eager to cram in their mouths. Wines and water were also packed with radiation before the dangers started to make themselves known. A 1925 article in The New York Times heralded the end of the radium age with the announcement of a nightmarish new disease: radium necrosis. It was basically radiation poisoning of the jaw caused by ingesting radium. Victims found the flesh and bone of their lower faces dying and falling away or developing grotesque tumors.[4] Death followed shortly after. 

Fish

For some, eating raw fish may be a terrifying prospect in its own right, but a certain Japanese delicacy gives sushi-phobes another reason to fear. Blowfish, or fugu, is prepared with extreme care by master sushi chefs. The law demands it. The government regulates the process carefully because a single mistake could end the life of a customer.

The organs of the blowfish are filled with a substance called tetrodotoxin.[5]Should any taint the meat, this unbelievably nightmarish poison begins with a subtle numbing of the unlucky customer’s mouth. Soon, however, the numbness evolves into full-blown paralysis, which slowly migrates down the body. The victim is left completely unable to move but fully aware. Death finally comes when the paralysis reaches the lungs, and the still-conscious diner slowly suffocates. Luckily, due to the strict laws concerning its preparation, only 23 people have been killed by fugu in the last 16 years. Still, not many takers. 

Nutmeg

During the 1600s, a terrible war was waged between the English and the Dutch. It was a brutal and bloody conflict that lasted for years. It was over something we like to sprinkle on eggnog.

Humble nutmeg found itself at the center of this bizarre international conflict because it had become something of a status symbol.[6] Nobles of the era would stockpile spices like gold, and the trendiest new addition to any spice cabinet was nutmeg. The seeds were prized for their exotic flavor, their supposed aphrodisiac properties, and the belief that they could actually cure the Black Death. Unfortunately, though, they could only be found on a single Indonesian island chain, the Bandas. The quest to monopolize the nutmeg industry led Dutch and English forces to commit horrors ranging from torture to mass slaughter, upon both enemy combatants and the innocent residents of the islands.

Luckily, the bloodshed finally ended in 1667, when England signed a treaty handing over control of their only remaining Banda island. They didn’t get much in return, just the Dutch-controlled island of Manhattan. 

Water

Throughout history, typhoid fever has claimed countless lives. Minor epidemics were fairly common until recently, but in 1903, the city of Ithaca, New York, faced a sudden and unusually aggressive outbreak of the dreadful disease.[7]Construction had recently begun on the Six Mile Creek Dam, and the shady owners had neglected to include a filtration system of any kind. Conditions were rough for the builders as well; the entire crew was forced to share a single outhouse, leading many to simply use the creek. However, the final nail in the coffin was that a few of the builders had recently moved from an area of Italy notorious for typhoid outbreaks.

The results were as obvious as they were devastating. Ithaca residents began experiencing crippling stomach pain and dangerously high fevers. The sickness had spread far and wide before anyone figured out their drinking water was to blame. People could only watch as friends and family began to succumb. In the end, 82 people, including 29 college students, were killed. 

Grain

Medieval England just couldn’t catch a break. As if constant war and the Black Plague weren’t enough, folks had a more obscure reason to lock themselves in their mud cottages: English sweating sickness.

With outbreaks occurring mainly during the summers of the 15th and 16th centuries, this strange illness came on fast and killed faster. Within 24 hours of infection, the victim would sweat profusely, experience shortness of breath and heart palpitations, and finally drop dead. Despite much documentation in everything from official records to fiction (Shakespeare even mentioned it in his play Measure for Measure), no one really knew where it came from.

Researchers now believe the hantavirus was to blame.[8] The symptoms are eerily similar, and just like the Black Death, it is transmitted by rodents. Medieval England had no shortage of rats; the vermin were notorious for chowing down on stores of grains like wheat and oats. While eating, the incontinent beasts would leave their urine behind, contaminating the food. Unlucky peasants would then sit down for dinner, and an epidemic would be born. 

Cheese

Listeria monocytogenes is a particularly nasty bacterium. In humans, it causes an unpredictable condition called listeriosis, which can be as minor as a touch of the flu or infect the nervous system, causing convulsions and death. It also really seems to like cheese.

Products containing unpasteurized milk are prime targets for Listeria. In 1985, California’s Jalisco Products produced a batch of cheese without following pasteurization procedures. The result was one of the largest listeriosis outbreaks in history.[9] Southern California was devastated by the deadly neurological disease, which hit pregnant women and newborn babies the hardest. The death toll topped out at a terrifying 62 when all was said and done, including many stillbirths.

And this wasn’t an isolated incident. Listeriosis outbreaks linked to cheese are insanely common, even now. Maybe order a side of antibiotics the next time you hit the pizza joint. 

Rye

 

In the Middle Ages, Europe was subjected to what can only be described as a full-on living nightmare. A strange plague, known as St. Anthony’s fire, began to spread. Victims suffered extreme burning sensations in their hands and feet, the feeling of insects crawling beneath their skin, and horrifying hallucinations. The infection sometimes even caused the flesh of the hands and feet to die, requiring amputation.

It wasn’t until much later that botanists were able to crack this “holy fire.” The fungus Claviceps purpurea infects many grain plants, but it seems especially fond of rye.[10] Small black growths called ergots grow alongside the grains on tainted plants and were often mistakenly ground up with them in medieval mills. Bread made from the flour would then infect humans, leading to the hellish symptoms.

Despite the horrors, the study of ergot has led to many advances in medical science, like cures for migraine headaches and psychological disorders. It has also led to advances in psychedelic science by giving the world LSD.

Dog Before vs After Mountain Biking (2 pics)

I bet the poor pooch didn't see it coming. 

10 OF THE MOST AMAZING INDOOR SWIMMING POOLS

The Many Benefits of Fermented Food

Fermented foods and drinks are quite literally alive with flavor and nutrition. Their flavors tend to be strong and pronounced. Think of stinky aged cheeses, tangy sauerkraut, rich earthy miso, smooth sublime wines. Though not everyone loves every flavor of fermentation, humans have always appreciated the unique, compelling flavors resulting from the transformative power of microscopic bacteria and fungi.

One great practical benefit of fermentation is that it can preserve food. Fermentation organisms produce alcohol, lactic acid and acetic acid, all “bio-preservatives” that retain nutrients while preventing spoilage and the growth of pathogenic organisms. Vegetables, fruits, milk, fish and meat are highly perishable, and our ancestors used whatever techniques they could discover to store foods from periods of plenty for later consumption. From the tropics to the Arctic, fermentation has been used to preserve food resources. 

MICROBIODIVERSITY AND INCORPORATING THE WILD

By eating a variety of live fermented foods, you promote microbial diversity in your body. The live bacteria in those ferments not heated after fermentation enter our bodies, where some of them survive the stomach and find themselves in our already densely populated intestines. There, they help to digest food and assimilate nutrients, as well as stimulate immune responses. There is no one particular strain that is uniquely beneficial; rather the greatest benefit of eating bacteria lies in biodiversity. Few if any of the bacteria we eat take up residence in our intestines, but even so they have elaborate interactions with the bacteria that are there, and with our bodily cells, in ways that we are just beginning to recognize and that remain little understood.

Biodiversity is increasingly recognized as critical to the survival of larger-scale ecosystems. Earth and all its inhabitants comprise a single, seamless matrix of life, interconnected and interdependent. The frightening repercussions of species extinctions starkly illustrate the impact of the loss of biodiversity all over our planet. The survival of our species depends upon biodiversity.

Biodiversity is just as important at the micro level. Call it microbiodiversity. Your body is an ecosystem that can function most effectively when populated by diverse microorganisms. Sure, you can buy “probiotic” supplements containing specific strains. But by eating traditional fermented foods and beverages, especially those you ferment yourself with wild microorganisms present in your environment, you become more interconnected with the life forces of the world around you. Your environment literally becomes you, as you invite the microbial populations you share the Earth with to enter your diet and your intestinal ecology.

Wild fermentation is a way of incorporating the wild into your body, becoming one with the natural world. Wild foods, microbial cultures included, possess a great, unmediated life force, which can help us lower our susceptibility to disease and adapt to shifting conditions. These microorganisms are everywhere, and the techniques for fermenting with them are simple and flexible.

Are live fermented foods the answer to a long, healthy life? The folklores of many different cultures associate longevity with foods such as yogurt and miso. Many researchers have found evidence to support this causal connection. Pioneering Russian immunologist and Nobel laureate Elie Metchniko studied yogurt-eating centenarians in the Balkans early in the 20th century and concluded that lactic acid bacteria “postpone and ameliorate old age.”

Personally, I’m not so inclined to reduce the secret of long life and good health to any single food or practice. Life consists of multiple variables, and every life is unique. But very clearly fermentation has contributed to the well-being of humanity as a whole.

Foods to Forage in the Fall

Long before humans were farmers, they were foragers. What was once an age-old way of eating has seen a resurgence by people interested in wild local foods, and with good reason. Foraging not only helps save on your food budget; wild foods are incredibly healthy, and a day of foraging can be filled with pure old-fashioned fun.

If you’ve never foraged for food before, fall is a great time to start. Nature puts out its most nutrient-rich foods in autumn when wildlife — and us — can eat them or store them for the cold, harsh winter months ahead.

Things You’ll Need:

• A pair of small garden snips, kitchen shears, or a good pocket knife
• A container such as a basket or reusable shopping bag for harvesting
• Gardening gloves
• A notebook to track harvests and locations (optional)

Tips:

1. Dress to protect! When foraging, wear long sleeves and pants to protect your limbs from things like burrs, thorns, stings, or poison ivy. Cover your feet with socks and sturdy shoes or boots.
2. Make informed choices. Never, ever, ever eat something that you don’t know with 100% certainty if it is edible or not. Seek out the guidance of a local plant expert, consult and cross-reference when attempting to identify a new plant. If you have doubts, throw it out or compost it.
3. Know the law. Laws can vary significantly from region to region, so make sure to do your homework. Foraging is off-limits in some parks and wilderness areas, so it’s best to know before you go. Naturally, don’t venture onto private property without permission.
4. Avoid pollutants. Whether you forage in a forest or an urban area, avoid plants treated with herbicides or pesticides. Here’s a handy map for worldwide urban foraging.
5. Start small. Wild local plants can be very potent. Begin by slowly introducing one wild edible at a time, in small amounts.

Before you grab a basket and head out, there are a few important considerations to note about foraging: you can die from eating the wrong plant, you can harm delicate ecosystems by walking around in sensitive habitats and decimate plant populations by over-harvesting. 

The key is always to respect and honor the place where you are foraging, and the other animals who live there. Only harvest what is abundant and never take more than you can use. Forage just for those plants that you know are edible and forage for them respectfully.

FOODS TO FORAGE IN FALL

Here are some of the wild edibles that you can go and forage for in the fall.

Fungi

I’m starting with mushrooms because almost everyone knows that there are dangerous, poisonous ones out there to avoid. While this isn’t something to forget, it also shouldn’t stop foragers from searching for wild mushrooms. All you need is a bit of caution and some know-how.

This Wild Mushroom Foraging Guide will help identify edible and poisonous mushrooms using photos and descriptions of various species. The guide also features mushrooms by season, making choosing ones that are easy to find and identify less complicated. Several fall wild mushroom finds are chanterelles, chicken of the woods, wood hedgehog, bolete, and wood blewit mushrooms.

 

Native Fruits & Nuts

Autumn fruit harvests are almost synonymous with apples, but native fruits are abundant for foragers. The trick is in the timing. Foraging for the ripe fruit means you have to get it before the wildlife can. But the reward can be sweet, or just a little tart. Look for these fall finds: Pawpaws, blackberries, elderberries, buffalo berries, wild grapes, or persimmons.

Trees also start to drop their nuts in autumn. You’ll spot acorns, black walnuts, gingko nuts, or even pine nuts if you’re lucky, all ready for the picking. Foragers beware: Some nuts like acorns require soaking or other preparations before using.

Leaves & Roots

Fall is a great time to forage for greens and leaves. Avoid plants alongside highways or dumping areas. Instead, look for plants that grow abundantly in spaces free from conventional pollutants. Fall foragers can find dandelions, chickweed, sheep sorrel, or stinging nettles.

Autumn is also the perfect time for harvesting roots because they’re a bit sweeter than their springtime selves due to their high inulin content. Seek out roots like wild parsnip, burdock, chicory, or horseradish. Like other foraged foods, the leaves, greens, and roots of native plants require caution and identification before consuming. 

What You Should Eat During and After Antibiotics

Antibiotics are a powerful line of defense against bacterial infections. However, they can sometimes cause side effects, such as diarrhea and liver damage.

Some foods can reduce these side effects, while others may make them worse. This article explains what you should and shouldn’t eat during and after antibiotics.

WHAT ARE ANTIBIOTICS?

Antibiotics are a type of medication used to treat bacterial infections. They work by killing the infection or preventing it from spreading. There are many different types of antibiotics.

Some are broad-spectrum, meaning they act on a wide range of disease-causing bacteria. Others are designed to kill certain species of bacteria. Antibiotics are very important and effective at treating serious infections. Yet, they can come with some negative side effects.

For example, excessive antibiotic use can damage your liver. One study has shown that antibiotics are the most common medication to cause liver injury (1, 2).

Antibiotics may also have negative effects on the trillions of bacteria and other microbes living in your intestines. These bacteria are collectively known as the gut microbiota.

In addition to killing disease-causing bacteria, antibiotics may kill healthy bacteria (3, 4, 5). Taking too many antibiotics can drastically change the amounts and types of bacteria within the gut microbiota, especially in early life (6, 7, 8). In fact, only one week of antibiotics can change the makeup of the gut microbiota for up to a year (9).

Some studies have shown that changes to the gut microbiota caused by excessive antibiotic use in early life may even increase the risk of weight gain and obesity (10). Furthermore, the overuse of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance, making them ineffective at killing disease-causing bacteria (11).

Finally, by changing the types of bacteria living in the intestines, antibiotics can cause intestinal side effects, including diarrhea (12).

TAKE PROBIOTICS DURING AND AFTER TREATMENT

Taking antibiotics can alter the gut microbiota, which can lead to antibiotic-associated diarrhea, especially in children. Fortunately, a number of studies have shown that taking probiotics, or live healthy bacteria, can reduce the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (13, 14). One review of 23 studies including nearly 400 children found that taking probiotics at the same time as antibiotics could reduce the risk of diarrhea by more than 50% (15).

A larger review of 82 studies including over 11,000 people found similar results in adults, as well as children (16). These studies showed that Lactobacilli and Saccharomyces probiotics were particularly effective. 

However, given that probiotics are usually bacteria themselves, they can also be killed by antibiotics if taken together. Thus, it is important to take antibiotics and probiotics a few hours apart.

Probiotics should also be taken after a course of antibiotics in order to restore some of the healthy bacteria in the intestines that may have been killed. One study showed that probiotics can restore the microbiota to its original state after a disruptive event, such as taking antibiotics (17).

If taking probiotics after antibiotics, it may be better to take one that contains a mixture of different species of probiotics, rather than just one.

EAT FERMENTED FOODS

Certain foods can also help restore the gut microbiota after damage caused by antibiotics. Fermented foods are produced by microbes and include yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, kombucha and kimchi, among others. They contain a number of healthy bacterial species, such as Lactobacilli, which can help restore the gut microbiota to a healthy state after antibiotics.

Studies have shown that people who eat yogurt or fermented milk have higher amounts of Lactobacilli in their intestines and lower amounts of disease-causing bacteria, such as Enterobacteria and Bilophila wadsworthia (18, 19, 20).

Kimchi and fermented soybean milk have similar beneficial effects and can help cultivate healthy bacteria in the gut, such as Bifidobacteria (21, 22). Therefore, eating fermented foods may help improve gut health after taking antibiotics.

Other studies have also found that fermented foods may be beneficial during antibiotic treatment. Some of these have shown that taking either normal or probiotic-supplemented yogurt can reduce diarrhea in people taking antibiotics (23, 24, 25).

EAT HIGH-FIBER FOODS

Fiber can’t be digested by your body, but it can be digested by your gut bacteria, which helps stimulate their growth.

As a result, fiber may help restore healthy gut bacteria after a course of antibiotics.

High-fiber foods include:

• Whole grains (porridge, whole grain bread, brown rice)
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Beans
• Lentils
• Berries
• Broccoli
• Peas
• Bananas
• Artichokes

Studies have shown that foods that contain dietary fiber are not only able to stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut, but they may also reduce the growth of some harmful bacteria (26, 27, 28). However, dietary fiber can slow the rate that the stomach empties. In turn, this can slow the rate at which medicines are absorbed (29).

Therefore, it is best to temporarily avoid high-fiber foods during antibiotic treatment and instead focus on eating them after stopping antibiotics.

EAT PREBIOTIC FOODS

Unlike probiotics, which are live microbes, prebiotics are foods that feed the good bacteria in your gut. Many high-fiber foods are prebiotic. The fiber is digested and fermented by healthy gut bacteria, allowing them to grow (30). However, other foods are not high in fiber but act as prebiotics by helping the growth of healthy bacteria like Bifidobacteria.

For example, red wine contains antioxidant polyphenols, which are not digested by human cells but are digested by gut bacteria. One study found that consuming red wine polyphenol extracts for four weeks could significantly increase the amount of healthy Bifidobacteria in the intestines and reduce blood pressure and blood cholesterol (31).

Similarly, cocoa contains antioxidant polyphenols that have beneficial prebiotic effects on the gut microbiota. A couple studies have shown that cocoa polyphenols also increase healthy Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus in the gut and reduce some unhealthy bacteria, including Clostridia (32, 33).

Thus, eating prebiotic foods after antibiotics may help the growth of beneficial gut bacteria that have been damaged by antibiotics.

AVOID CERTAIN FOODS THAT REDUCE ANTIBIOTIC EFFECTIVENESS

While many foods are beneficial during and after antibiotics, some should be avoided. For example, studies have shown that it can be harmful to consume grapefruit and grapefruit juice while taking certain medications, including antibiotics (34, 35).

This is because grapefruit juice and many medications are broken down by an enzyme called cytochrome P450. Eating grapefruit while on antibiotics can prevent the body from breaking down the medication properly. This can be harmful to your health. One study in six healthy men found that drinking grapefruit juice while taking the antibiotic erythromycin increased the amount of the antibiotic in the blood, compared to those who took it with water (36).

Foods supplemented with calcium may also affect antibiotic absorption. Studies have shown that foods supplemented with calcium can reduce the absorption of various antibiotics, including ciprofloxacin and gatifloxacin (37, 38).

However, other studies have shown that calcium-containing foods like yogurt don’t have the same inhibitory effect (39). It could be that only foods that are supplemented with high doses of calcium should be avoided when taking antibiotics.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Antibiotics are important when you have a bacterial infection. However, they can sometimes cause side effects, including diarrhea, liver disease and changes to the gut microbiota.

Taking probiotics during and after a course of antibiotics can help reduce the risk of diarrhea and restore your gut microbiota to a healthy state.

Eating high-fiber foods, fermented foods and prebiotic foods after taking antibiotics may also help reestablish a healthy gut microbiota.

However, it is best to avoid grapefruit and calcium-fortified foods during antibiotics, as these can affect the absorption of antibiotics.