# Is it OK to Eat Yogurt While Taking Antibiotics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093 "2009-02-23T19:57:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/1 "2009-02-23T19:57:02Z")
Amoxicillin, specifically. TIA ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/2 "2009-02-23T20:09:50Z")
Yep. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/3 "2009-02-23T20:12:36Z")
I ate yogurt while taking amoxicillin and I didn’t notice any bad changes. I think it actually helped me as it seemed that amoxicillin stripped me of my good bacteria as well as the bad, it was really harsh stuff. I’m not a doctor and all that jazz. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/4 "2009-02-23T20:16:03Z")
When I was a kid my pediatrician used to recommend it, including frozen yogurt. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/5 "2009-02-23T20:31:21Z")
I just went through a month of treatment with Amoxicillin, and the doctor recommended that I eat yogurt at the same time. To counteract the side effects of the antibiotic tending to kill off all the good bacteria in the gut – digestive upsets & diarrhea. And it helped. But it has to be ‘live culture’ yogurt to work. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/6 "2009-02-23T21:59:27Z")
TMI warning - I find it’s pretty necessary to prevent thrush. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/7 "2009-02-23T22:40:11Z")
Some time ago, I found one site that suggested that although it was a Good idea, it was best to not take the pill within minutes of eating the yogurt, to try to space them out a bit. But it is quite possible the reasons were either to protect the “live cultures” or that some antibiotics should not be taken with milk. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/8 "2009-02-24T03:55:24Z")
IANAD…but, generally it is recommended when you’re on antibiotics. Live culture yogurt can help replenish the good bacteria in your gut and elsewhere. That will help prevent diarrhea, gas, thrush and yeast infections. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/9 "2009-02-24T23:45:05Z")
Even better than yogurt, Kefir! I like it better than yogurt, it’s lower in calories, and you can find it made without the damn corn syrup. Lots more live cultures of more strains than yogurt. I gulp about 6 oz down with my vitamins. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/10 "2009-02-25T00:02:06Z")
You can also just buy probiotics in pill form. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/11 "2009-02-25T02:35:24Z")
A little backround. Although bacteria and fungi don’t have much in common on a cellular level, they do like to set up shop on the same real estate. So much so that fungi evolved chemical weapons to give it an advantage, that’s where most of our antibiotics come from, we borrowed them from the fungi. Sooo, when you take an antibiotic, you… 1 kill off the pathogenic bacteria, this is the ‘desired’ effect 2 kill off lots of neutral or beneficial bacteria, this is a ‘side’ effect, which in turn 3 opens up lots of real estate for fungi like candida albicans to proliferate and give you thrush and yeast infections. recharging your gut with neutral/beneficial bacteria is widely thought to reduce 2 and 3, although I don’t have a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Melkor28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Melkor28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melkor28)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-eat-yogurt-while-taking-antibiotics/487093/12 "2009-02-25T09:25:24Z")
SeaDragon, do you have any cites on Kefir that list the live cultures? I did a quick Googls search, none of the cites I checked have that info. I take Acidophilus in pill form with my vitiams; and eat Dannon’s Activia yogurt at coffee, which contains Bifidus Regularis. Kefir might make a nice addition or swich in my diet. I’ll have to check out my local health food stores. I am a happy camper since I started ingesting plenty of live cultures. Amoung the many benefits, my internal hemorrhoids seem to have disapeared!