What are Prebiotics? | The Complete Guide to Prebiotics
Wiki Article
Prebiotics are indigestible fibers that are the food sources for the trillions of beneficial bacteria and yeast living in the human gut.
The beneficial bacteria in our gut are often referred to as “probiotics” and help regulate digestive health and many essential processes in the human body. As such, prebiotics for gut health play an important role in supporting probiotics and are a necessary component for a healthy digestive system and overall wellbeing.
Fibers are long chains of carbohydrate sugars that break down slowly and provide sustained energy.
The most common prebiotic fiber is inulin and it's produced in over 36,000 types of plants. Other typical forms of prebiotics are oligosaccharides, fructo-oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides, and resistant starch.
You can get these fibers from food, such as leafy vegetables, whole grains and legumes.
Unfortunately, it is estimated that only 5% of Americans meet the recommended daily fiber intake.
Prebiotic vs Probiotic: What’s the Difference?
It can be easy to confuse the two terms, but there is a difference between prebiotics and probiotics.
Probiotics are the beneficial bacteria that live in your intestines. They help regulate your digestion and metabolism, support immune function and even cognition and mood.
Prebiotics are simply strong plant fibers you eat but can’t digest, but the bacteria can.
Probiotics need that food source to flourish into healthy bacteria and beat out the negative bacteria in your gut. When prebiotics and probiotics are taken together, they are considered a “synbiotic,” a superior product giving the beneficial bacteria a stronger chance of survival and growth in the digestive tract.
Interestingly, different probiotic bacteria prefer different prebiotic food sources, which is why it’s important to consume a diverse set of fibers.
There’s one more reason why prebiotics are so important: a lot of beneficial bacteria cannot be taken as a probiotic supplement, because they are anaerobic (oxygen is harmful to them) and can’t survive outside the gut. So, the only way to help them become a stronger part of your gut ecosystem is to feed them what they need from the inside: prebiotics!
Report this wiki page