The Difference and Benefits of Probiotics and Prebiotics

By now, you’ve probably heard that your gut health is linked to your overall body health. The lining of your intestines is covered with a myriad of microorganisms that make up an ecosystem known as the microbiome. Keeping your microbiome healthy has a crucial impact on many of your health conditions, with some studies even linking gut health to mental health, autoimmune conditions, skin conditions, and more. So how can we keep these microbes in balance? If you think of these microbes as tiny organisms, they're just like us, and what you feed them can affect how healthy they are, which is where probiotics and prebiotics come in.

Prebiotics

what isPrebiotics? Prebiotics are carbohydrates that the body cannot process and come from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains (although not all fiber is necessarily prebiotic). These fibers act as a food or fertilizer, helping to stimulate the growth of healthy gut bacteria called probiotics.

Probiotics

Your gut is home to a vast array of organisms, known as the gut flora, but not everyone has a healthy gut flora. ProbioticsPrebiotics are healthy bacteria that add to your current gut flora, and prebiotics are the food these organisms eat. Probiotics can be taken in foods such as yogurt, and other fermented foods like kimchi, kombucha, and tempeh.

Most foods and supplements come with a specific strain of bacteria, the most common being Lactobacillus, but even within this there are over 120 species. Some strains may be better than others at keeping your body healthy, so it's always a good idea to ask your doctor which type of bacteria is best for you.

Why You Need Prebiotics and Probiotics

The saying “you are what you eat” actually refers to the role played by prebiotics and probiotics. The food you eat is the same food your microbes eat. A poor or unbalanced diet can affect many areas of health, including your microbiome, and research has begun to link gut health to certain diseases and conditions.

●If you eat a high-sugar, high-fat diet, you increase your risk of insulin resistance.
●A poor diet may feed bad bacteria, encouraging them to grow and outcompete healthy bacteria. This can lead to various health problems and physical discomfort
●Bad bacteria or a less healthy gut microbiome are more likely to lead to obesity.
●Sometimes, the cell walls of intestinal bacteria contain endotoxins, which can trigger an immune response in the body and lead to inflammation. Chronic inflammation is associated with a wide variety of health problems and diseases. Dietary choice has been linked to the amount of these endotoxins in the gut microbiota, as healthier diets tend to produce cells with lower endotoxins.

How a prebiotic and probiotic supplementation regimen can help

How do probiotics help us? Combined with research on healthy diet, further studies have shown that prebiotics and probioticssupplementsAnd foods can bring these benefits:

●A healthy gut with a diverse range of bacteria may help address weight and mood issues, a study has found.
Taking prebiotics while on antibiotics can help reduce discomfort, and some studies have found that this reduces antibiotic-related diarrhea by 60%.
●Probiotics can help control symptoms in patients with long-term gastrointestinal problems.
●While prebiotics are still relatively new to the supplement market and its research, some early studies have yielded some positive results.
●Prebiotics may promote calcium absorption.

Summary

Prebiotics and probiotics work together like a team to keep your gut functioning well. Even though we can't see the tiny world inside our guts, they have a big impact on our health. Talk to your doctor or nutritionist about which probiotics, supplements, and diet are best for you to achieve optimal gut health and well-being.