Common drugs such as proton-pump inhibitors and metformin markedly alter the taxonomic structure and metabolic function as well as antibiotic-resistance genes in the gut microbiome, according to a study from the Netherlands.

The changes observed could increase the risk of intestinal infections, obesity and other disorders, the authors noted in an abstract presented at the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week 2019 in Barcelona, Spain.

Researchers studied relations between 41 commonly used drug categories and gut microbial changes in the general population and in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

They performed metagenomics sequencing on 1883 fresh frozen faecal samples.