When Dr. Lee and I went on our honeymoon [about a hundred years ago] she came down with a nasty stomach virus on board a cruise ship. She asked if an antibiotic would help. This was long before either of us went to chiropractic college. The doctor said that it wouldn’t help at all but he would be happy to give her a shot anyway if she wanted it. She elected to tough out the virus.
Everyday parents bring sick kids to doctors’ offices who also cannot be helped with antibiotics but they leave with a prescription anyway. The prescription makes the parents feel better not the kids. On the surface, this practice seems harmless. It’s not.
Antibiotics were a great discovery in the last century. Had they been used judiciously, they would be just as a effective a tool in the war against bacterial inflections as they were 60 years ago. Instead the abuse of antibiotics has created a plethora of superbugs resistant to almost all of our drugs. Why? When people take antibiotics they kill off the vast majority of bacteria in their system…but not every last bug. The drug resistant survivors multiply. It has been said that the abuse of antibiotics has propelled the evolution of the microbe by 50,000 years in the last 60 years.
Antibiotics are also rampant in our food supply. Since cattle, chicken and pigs are raised in factory-like conditions, diseases spread very quickly. To deal with the problem antibiotics are routinely fed to the animals. Those drugs end up in our food chain. The FDA has just made recommendations to food producers to eliminate antibiotics in meat production because of the huge problem of antibiotic resistant inflections. Note that these are recommendations which are little more than suggestions. I doubt this will curb the use of the drugs. The food industry cares about profits not the health of the population.
So what can you do? For starters you can eat lower on the food chain. That means less meat and more veggies. Secondly, you can go to local organic farmers who don’t abuse antibiotics. Yes, the meat is more expensive but it is better for you. Lastly, you can live a lifestyle that keeps you healthier. That means exercise, proper supplementation and regular chiropractic care for a healthy spine.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
