All about Prebiotics
Written by Jerry Lau and Tommy Li
What can a good gastrointestinal health contribute to your daily wellbeing? The answers can be enhanced absorbance of nutrients, increased gastrointestinal movement and detoxification, positive moods, and more that you could think of. What if someone tells you that the bacteria in your body play important roles in digestion and are responsible for your daily happiness? In fact, many people have been taking probiotics to aid gastrointestinal health. These probiotics are live microorganisms that survive in the gut and provide the aforementioned benefits to us. The prebiotics, the so-called “nondigestible food ingredients” serve as food for the gut flora, selectively stimulate the growth and/or activity of desirable colonic bacteria (Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium). Prebiotics contain types of fiber such as beta glucans and insulin that gut bacteria feed on. The prebiotics nourish your friendly bacteria in the GI tract to make sure your overall GI wellbeing is on point for the day (3). An easy way to differentiate between the two is that prebiotics is food for probiotics!
Prebiotics may be helpful or preventative for irritable bowel (IBS), or inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease,ulcerative colitis), colon polyps and cancer and those people with a leaky gut.In addition, prebiotics can reduce body fat and alter intestinal microbiota in children who are overweight or with obesity (1). Moreover, they can improve health by allowing growth of bacteria that facilitate the absorption of nutrients like minerals, helping food digestion, maintaining the intestinal pH and promoting intestinal peristalsis. By themselves they help to maintain a normal balance between good and bad bacteria in the gut, to control blood glucose, HbA1c and LDL, to improve symptoms of IBS. So, they are added to both regular foods and pet foods to improve overall well being for humans and animals.
Where can you find prebiotics? Prebiotics occur naturally all around us, there is no need to purchase particular pills for it. The source of prebiotics can be found in fruits like bananas and kiwi, Jerusalem artichoke, dandelion, legumes, onion, leek, garlic, honey, soybean, raw oats, whole grains like wheat, and barley, and brown rice. Note that yogurt has both bacteria and prebiotics, essentially hitting both benefits with one stone. So eat your yogurt! Prebiotics are mostly oligosaccharides, including fructooligosaccharides (FOS), galactooligosaccharides (GOS), isomalto oligosaccharides (MMOS) and xylooligosaccharides (XOS), soy oligosaccharides and inulin, polydextrose. They also contain some soluble fiber (pectin, gums). Mannan Oligosaccharides (MOS) are only for animals. Recently, calcium phosphate and chicory root (fiber-prebiotic) have also been used in manufacturing.
If you would like to purchase prebiotics and probiotics off the shelf, it is important to know which products to buy. Make sure to buy a product that has a seal of approval from testing agencies such as one from Consumer Reports/Consumer Labs. It is recommended to buy probiotic capsules packaged with insulin or other prebiotics to increase effectiveness. It is also recommended to buy probiotics in spore form, which ensures that the microorganisms can survive on the shelf and in the digestive tract (2).
References:
Nicolucci AC, Hume MP, Martínez I, Mayengbam S, Walter J, Reimer RA. Prebiotics Reduce Body Fat and Alter Intestinal Microbiota in Children Who Are Overweight or With Obesity. Gastroenterology. 2017 Sep;153(3):711-722. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2017.05.055. Epub 2017 Jun 5. PMID: 28596023.
“Prebiotics vs. Probiotics: What’s the Difference?” healthessentials. Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/prebiotics-vs-probiotics-whats-the-difference/. Accessed 13 September 2021.
Palken J. Prebiotics: what, where, and how to get them. Center for Applied Nutrition. UMass Chan. https://www.umassmed.edu/nutrition/ibd/ask-Nutritionist/prebiotics-what-where-and-how-to-get-them/.
Probiotics are live microorganisms that are found naturally in yogurt and other fermented foods but are also manufactured as capsules to be taken as a daily supplement. The term ‘probiotics’ itself means bacteria with beneficial properties. Probiotics are the third most commonly used dietary supplement among adults in the United States.
The premise behind taking probiotic supplements is to “reset” the guts natural microbiota. The gut is estimated to contain over 35000 bacterial species. The gut microbiota has metabolic, immunological and gut protective functions in a healthy person. Baeteroides thetaiotaomicron is a specific type of bacteria which helps in lipid metabolism as well as protein metabolism. Bacteria of the genus Bacteroides in general have been associated with synthesis of vitamin K and parts of vitamin B in the gut.
Probiotic supplements mostly contain Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Different bacteria can be used to different conditions. Probiotics are mostly used for gut-related conditions like diarrhea or constipation. Studies have shown that Lactobacillus GG can reduce the length of course of infectious diarrhea in infants and children. Probiotics have also been studied for use during antibiotic courses to reduce the incidence of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Studies have shown that probiotics can reduced antibiotic-associated diarrhea by 60% when compared with placebo. Probiotics may also help with constipation with studies showing that they can increase the number of weekly bowel movements by 1.3 and made stools easier to pass. Probiotics have also been experimented with for maintenance of remission of ulcerative colitis although the benefit is unclear.
References:
Health benefits of taking probiotics. Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/vitamins-and-supplements/health-benefits-of-taking-probiotics. Published April 13, 2020. Accessed March 29, 2022.
Jandhyala SM, Talukdar R, Subramanyam C, Vuyyuru H, Sasikala M, Nageshwar Reddy D. Role of the normal gut microbiota. World J Gastroenterol. 2015;21(29):8787-8803. doi:10.3748/wjg.v21.i29.8787
Probiotics: What you need to know. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/probiotics-what-you-need-to-know#:~:text=Probiotics%20are%20live%20microorganisms%20that,dietary%20supplements%2C%20and%20beauty%20products. Accessed March 29, 2022.