Prebiotics
If fiber is the number one all-star when it comes to gut health, probiotics—beneficial gut bacteria—certainly seem to be the second most important. Gut health experts often preach about the importance of probiotic foods, like kimchi, sauerkraut, and yogurt. But there's something more beneficial than probiotics that we should be focusing on instead: prebiotics, which feed the probiotics in the gut - Emily Laurence
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Prebiotics are hard to stomach, but will your gut thank you for trying?
You’ll have heard of probiotics, because they’re very 2015, which I have identified as the year in which everyone started talking about gut health (the phrase “gut fauna” entered the vernacular a bit later). The potted version is that you want your gut bacteria to be as varied and exciting as possible, and the best way to ensure that is by eating fermented foods: yoghurts, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut. Cultures that are alive when you consume them.
Prebiotics are different: these are sources of indigestible fibre. Roughage, broadly, is the element of a plant or legume that won’t dissolve in water, and therefore moves intact through your body, not releasing calories but doing other…
Resources
Prebiotics Might Do More For Gut Health Than Probiotics...
Since prebiotics are found in insoluble fiber, it all comes back to the F word once again. As far as the gut is concerned, there's just no getting around the importance of fiber!
'Cultured': A Look At How Foods Can Help The Microbes Inside Us Thrive
Prebiotic fiber is just any kind of carbohydrate that we can't digest ourselves that instead passes through out digestive system as food for microbes. There are many different types of fiber that get broken down by different microbes at different stages of digestion. That's why it's a good idea to eat a wide variety of foods, and not just focus on a particular supplement here and there. Lots of different kinds of fibers help lots of different microbes thrive and create different beneficial compounds for us.
Cow's milk has vital prebiotic for a healthy baby's microbiome
Mum’s breast may be best, but cow’s milk could provide a cheap and ready source of key prebiotics for a healthy baby gut microbiome. The compounds could be incorporated into infant formula. A mother’s breast milk is a wonder drink for a newborn. We know it contains a whole host of beneficial components, including antibodies that protect a baby from disease, and the fats, proteins and vitamins essential for a baby’s development. It also contains oligosaccharides – carbohydrates recently found to behave like prebiotics, and that encourage the growth of a baby’s gut bacteria.
Prebiotic science: Stacking up the evidence for health benefits
Interest in prebiotics is exploding, along with a better understanding of their beneficial health effects, including immune modulation and positive metabolic impacts. Other benefits have been shown on sleep, stress and mood.
Prebiotics - What Are Prebiotics?
In this video I discuss what are prebiotics, and the health benefits of prebiotics. I also discuss some prebiotic foods, and how prebiotics benefit probiotics.
Prebiotics: Definition, Types, Sources, Mechanisms, and Clinical Applications
Prebiotics are a group of nutrients that are degraded by gut microbiota. Their relationship with human overall health has been an area of increasing interest in recent years. They can feed the intestinal microbiota, and their degradation products are short-chain fatty acids that are released into blood circulation, consequently, affecting not only the gastrointestinal tracts but also other distant organs.
Probiotics and prebiotics – is it safe to use them to treat disease?
Prebiotics don’t even contain bacteria, they are merely food on which probiotics feast. They are fibres that can’t be absorbed or broken down by the body, but they nourish friendly bacteria, particularly the Bifidobacteria genus. Bananas, onions, garlic and legumes are natural prebiotic sources.
Prebiotics are hard to stomach, but will your gut thank you for trying?
You’ll have heard of probiotics, because they’re very 2015, which I have identified as the year in which everyone started talking about gut health (the phrase “gut fauna” entered the vernacular a bit later). The potted version is that you want your gut bacteria to be as varied and exciting as possible, and the best way to ensure that is by eating fermented foods: yoghurts, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut. Cultures that are alive when you consume them. Prebiotics are different: these are sources of indigestible fibre.
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