Sugar Consumption May Worsen Gut Health Damage from Antibiotics
News related to:NYU Langone Health · 2 min read
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Eating sweets while taking antibiotics may worsen the harm done to gut health, according to a new study published online on September 30 in the journal Nature. The research, conducted by scientists from NYU Langone Health, City of Hope, and Memorial Sloan Kettering, found that consuming sugar in the 48 hours before antibiotic treatment can significantly reduce the diversity of beneficial bacteria in the gut.
The study tracked the diets of 173 hospitalized cancer patients, recording every meal over 9,419 meals. The team found that for every 100 grams of sugar consumed in the 48 hours before treatment, there was an additional 21% reduction in alpha diversity, a measure of the variety of helpful bacterial species present in the gut. This reduction in diversity can make the gut more vulnerable to harmful pathogens.
The study also showed that the combination of a sugary diet and antibiotic treatment caused an increase in the population of the bacterial species Enterococcus faecium. In mice experiments, exposure to the antibiotic biapenem and dietary sucrose led to a 16.3-fold increase in the Enterococcus population by day 3 and a 33.4-fold higher burden by day 6.
The research team studied patients with blood cancers because they receive antibiotics frequently and tracking food intake is feasible during hospitalization. The study is among the largest and highest-resolution of its kind to date, funded by the National Institutes of Health grants K08HL143189, P30CA008748, P01CA023766, R35CA284024, DP2AI164318, R01CA269617, P30CA0160087, R01CA228358, R01CA228308, F31CA261086, P30CA008748, P01CA023766; R01HL123340, R01HL147584, and P01AG052359.
NYU Langone Health, known for its comprehensive range of medical services and high standards of care, has been ranked No. 1 out of 122 comprehensive academic medical centers in the nation. It offers a wide range of services, including more than 400 outpatient locations in the New York City area and Florida.
The findings suggest that reducing simple sugars may limit microbiome injury, as the potentially harmful bacteria that survive the antibiotics can benefit from the dietary sugars they can use to expand. However, the exact mechanism by which sugar supports Enterococcus remains to be seen.
The research has important implications for cancer patients undergoing intensive treatments such as bone marrow transplantation, where the healthy diversity of the gut microbiome can have significant implications for outcomes. The next step will be to design clinical trials to test whether short-term dietary changes can improve clinical outcomes in patients.
The study's co-senior author, Marcel van den Brink, MD, PhD, chief physician executive at City of Hope, emphasized the importance of understanding how everyday factors, including diet, may affect the delicate balance that influences how patients respond to treatment, recover, and experience side effects.