ANTIBIOTIC USE LINKED TO BREAST CANCER

The possibility of antibiotics associated with breast cancer began in 1981, which caused a new study to be conducted. This study was performed in Seattle on 10,000 women. Women who had been on antibiotics over 25 times had twice the risk of developing breast cancer, and women who had been on antibiotics between 1 and 25 times had a 50% increase in risk. The study suggests the association is real.

Naturopathic medicine understands how antibiotics affect the body. Antibiotics destroy the healthy bacteria occupying the intestinal tract and other areas of the body, which play an important role in our immune system. The healthy bacteria communicate with our immune system and let our bodies know what should be attacked, and what is helpful and friendly to our bodies. Because antibiotics kill the healthy bacteria, they remove a vital link of our immune protection.
Taking probiotics (healthy flora/bacteria) is a vital part of everyday prevention, and also when taking antibiotics. Taking probiotics helps to re-establish the healthy beneficial connection with our immune system. If you are having any sort of immune challenge, taking probiotics are a valuable part of your preventative health. Antibiotics also leave us open for local and systemic yeast infections which can cause a myriad of symptoms. I’ve seen studies where 1/3 of cancer patients had some kind of harmful levels of yeast in their body. Not all cancer patients have too much yeast, however.

If you need to take antibiotics, then taking beneficial yeast, Sacchromyces boulardii, acts to protect our normal healthy flora from being destroyed.
Naturopathic medicine teaches to first do no harm. My own choice with antibiotics is I will only take them if my life is being threatened and they are the only, best option. If you are not already taking some form of probiotics, I suggest you begin now. Naturopathic doctors have known for decades the healthy benefit of using “pro”-biotics instead of “anti”-biotics.