Researchers found that cancer patients who ate sugary foods while taking antibiotics experienced greater damage to their gut bacteria than those taking antibiotics alone.
In a study published September 30 in Nature, scientists tracked blood cancer patients undergoing antibiotic treatment. Those consuming sugary items during treatment showed a larger reduction in gut bacteria diversity compared to antibiotic use by itself. The combination also correlated with growth of bacterial species linked to hard-to-treat infections.
The findings suggest that while sugar might make bitter antibiotics easier to swallow, it can amplify the drugs' disruptive effects on the microbiome.