A healthy gut is essential to a healthy body, but more factors are influencing it than you might expect. It turns out that, in addition to stocking your fridge with the best foods for gut health and accounting for any genetic predispositions you may have, you may need to take a closer look at your medicine cabinet. Research suggests that the common medications you take, or took years ago, could alter your gut microbiome for up to a decade.
A 2025 scientific analysis in the American Society for Microbiology’s mSystems journal investigated how common medications may be causing symptoms of an unhealthy gut. After evaluating stool samples and prescription medication information from more than 2,500 participants, the researchers concluded not only that most drugs significantly affected the gut microbiome, but also that those changes tended to persist long after people stopped taking the medication. To read the full story.