. . . they do permanent damage and are devastating our health We have more bacteria and other microflora in our bodies than we have cells, and our health is totally dependent upon them. Yet antibiotics devastate these populations and, in the process, devastate our health. I've been talking about this for the past 25 years. Now an establishment doctor, Martin J. Blaser, MD, Chairman of the Department of Medicine at NYU School of Medicine, has come to similar conclusions. In a news making commentary in the journal Nature, Blaser states that although concerns about antibiotics have been centered on bacterial resistance, there is a much worse problem in the "permanent changes to our protective flora." He has urged the medical community to curtail use of broad-spectrum antibiotics which kill both good and bad bacteria, citing findings that some of the beneficial bacteria may never recover, and that this may lead to increases in infections and other diseases, specifically obesity, allergies, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and type 1 diabetes. The above list does not begin to cover the problems caused by killing off good bacteria. Unfortunately people believe they can take antibiotics and replace the good bugs by eating yogurt or taking probiotic supplements. However you are probably NEVER able to reestablish normal flora again once you destroy your natural balance with antibiotics. Everyone's microflora is unique to their biochemistry, and everyone is biochemically unique. No two people have the same mix of bugs. How do you get that unique mix back? I suspect you can't, and new genetic studies support this. Just say "no" to antibiotics (there are safe alternatives). Parents need to stop demanding them for their children. I have had many doctors tell me they are aware that antibiotics are dangerous, but parents demand them, so they go ahead and prescribe them.  One course of antibiotics can cause you health problems for the rest of your life. Blaser M. Antibiotic overuse: Stop the killing of beneficial bacteria. Nature. August 2011;476:393-394.