Popular medications could change your gut health for years, experts warn

Other medicines - like antidepressants and cold medications - can also change the bacteria in your gut. These effects can build up over time and may even last for years after taking the drugs.

The study analyzed stool samples from 2,509 individuals, linking their microbiome data with electronic health records containing up to five years of prescription history. A second stool sample was collected from a sub-cohort of 328 individuals about 4.4 years later.

The researchers investigated which drugs were associated with microbiome changes, whether the amount or duration of use strengthened these impacts, and what happened to a patient when a drug was started or discontinued.

Of 186 drugs that were tested, 167, or 89.8%, were linked to at least one microbial effect.

For some drugs, more frequent or longer past use was associated with a stronger disturbance in the microbiome, suggesting that these effects accumulate over time.

Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel shared with Fox News Digital the old saying, "You are what you eat."

"It may turn out that you are what medications you take, too," he said in regard to the new study.

Siegel noted that these findings are "not surprising," since the gut flora is fragile and can be "easily altered by active chemicals."

The doctor added, "This is a study with important implications that should lead to a lot more research, especially connecting altered gut flora from various medications to various diseases."

The study authors pointed out a few limitations in their research, including the fact that it only focused on prescription-based drugs and did not consider the effects of over-the-counter medications.

Additionally, electronic health record data could have been incomplete or unclear in some cases.

"We highlight the importance of accounting for the history of drug usage when assessing disease-microbiome associations," the authors stated in the journal publication.