New research from Mayo Clinic suggests antacids are bad for your body's microbial diversity.
Yep, that's right, antacids might be bad for the health digestive system you're trying to calm.
"Before reaching for that daily antacid, you might consider what it's doing to the trillions of bugs living in your gut," the clinic says in an announcement of a study appearing in the journal Microbiome .
In the study, the researchers point out that their conclusion is preliminary and based on a small cohort of study subjects.
"The role of the gut microbiome in arresting pathogen colonization and growth is important for protection against Clostridium difficileinfection," the study says.
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Previous studies have shown that people who use antacids have a greater incidence of C. difficile, a bacterium that, according to Mayo Clinic, can cause symptoms such as diarrhea or even life-threatening inflammation of the colon.
