A scientific paper published in European Journal of Public Health reports that those who take probiotics as a preventative measure are less likely to receive antibiotic prescriptions
The systematic review, which was authored by an international group of ten scientists, reviewed studies that administered Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium to healthy people to determine the impact of probiotics on incidence or duration of common infectious diseases. In all studies that also tracked antibiotic use, the study found that healthy infants and children who consumed probiotics rather than a placebo were at least 29% less likely to receive or consume antibiotics. No studies in adults were included because these studies did not track antibiotic prescriptions.