Almost everyone has heard of probiotics but less of us have heard of prebiotics. The media outlets are full of commercials that talk about supplements that boast the benefits of probiotics. Numerous articles and information can be found all over the web on the subjects of both probiotics and prebiotics. The question a lot of us are looking for after we wade through the numerous sources and pile of conflicting reports and articles, is what are they really and how do we get more of them in our diet so we too can benefit and improve our digestive health.
After looking all over the web and all the different medical websites and research journals that define prebiotics and probiotics, I was happy to find a very simple explanation online in a University of North Dakota Dinning Services fact sheet, which claims they pulled their information from the Weight Watchers Research Department and the Weight Watchers website. I think this just shows that you can find well-worded explanations of complicated sounding definitions all over the place through the power of the internet.
Here is what I found. Prebiotics promote the growth and proliferation of beneficial bacteria in the digestive system. Probiotics have been defined as live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host. Unlike probiotics, which are live organisms, prebiotics are components of food that are not otherwise easily digested by humans and these food components essentially feed beneficial bacteria in your gut.
The two schools of thought on how to go about getting the health benefits of a balanced seem to be to add probiotics to your body through diet, or to add prebiotics to your body through diet. Your colon contains trillions of bacteria but there are a limited number of bacteria that can actually survive the trip through your digestive system to get to your colon. Even knowing which ones can survive still leaves us trying to then determine which bacteria do we add and how much is too much. I think the simpler approach is to add prebiotics to your diet instead. Prebiotics are not living and are not digested so all the problems of getting them there are solved.
In addition, we know that prebiotics nourish the thousands of good bacterial species already living in the colon. We do not have to know which ones to select, but instead let nature take its course. By nourishing the good bacteria and increasing their growth, the good bacteria produce substances that lower the pH of their environment making it friendlier to good bacteria, but inhospitable to bad bacteria.
In conclusion, prebiotics seem the easier approach to finding balance needed for improving digestive health. If you want to learn more about the kind of supplements, I use to increase the prebiotics in my diet, and more information, click here.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Best Way for Improving Digestive Health
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