Like antibiotics they can also contribute to antibiotic resistance, a study finds

A new study reveals that many non-antibiotic drugs might also alter the composition of our gut bacteria in a similar wayq a new study found.

Many common non-antibiotic drugs can not only  alter gut bacteria, but, like antibiotics they can also contribute to antibiotic resistance, Medical News Today reports.

Results from the study were published in journal Nature.

This shift in the composition of our gut bacteria contributes to drug side effects," explains study author Peer Bork, who is a professor at European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and head of its Structural and Computational Biology Unit.

For their investigation, the team compiled a panel of 40 species of gut bacteria that are typically found in the human gut and used it to screen more than 1,000 drugs currently on the market. Of the 923 non-antibiotic drugs that were analyzed, the researchers discovered that 250 had disrupted the growth of at least one of the 40 species of gut bacteria in the panel.

They were surprised by the size of their result, especially as the drugs they tested included "members of all therapeutic classes."

The researchers see the finding as just the start. There is still a lot of work to do to find out how the drugs interact with the gut microbes and how the interactions give rise to side effects in the body, as well as whether they are clinically relevant.