PREBIOTICS, PROBIOTICS AND POSTBIOTICS
What is the difference and what should you take?
We know our gut health is really important and plays a huge role in our overall health. With all the information out there about gut health, it’s easy to get confused.
The food we eat not only feeds our body, but our entire gut microbiome. The bacteria in our gut helps us break down and digest our food, absorb nutrients and create short chain fatty acids. These microbes affect our neurotransmitter production, immune health, thyroid health and hormone balance.
Prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics all contribute to the diversity of our gut microbiome and when it comes to the health of our microbiome and in turn the health of our body, the goal is diversity.
PREBIOTICS
Prebiotics are fibers in the plant food that we eat. The fiber in the food we eat that we aren’t able to digest is food for our gut bacteria. Prebiotics feed the probiotics in our gut. The more diverse our diet is, the more variety of different types of fiber we will ingest. This leads to a variety of food available to keep a diverse gut microbiome.
We find prebiotics where we get fiber, foods such as bananas, apples, onions, garlic, asparagus, beans and legumes, mushrooms and artichokes. This is a short list.
Anywhere you get fiber from food, you will benefit from prebiotics.
PROBIOTICS
Probiotics you are likely familiar with. Most of us have heard of them.
Probiotics are live, beneficial bacteria that live in our digestive tract. They naturally occur in our gut and are also available from fermented foods such as kimchi, yogurt, kombucha and sauerkraut. Probiotics are even found in our soil.
In a healthy digestive tract, we should have an abundance of probiotics that make up our gut microbiome. Having an adequate amount of probiotics in the gut helps aid in digestion and improves our immune system.
POSTBIOTICS
Postbiotics haven’t been talked about much, but they are pretty cool and important too!
Postbiotics are produced from our probiotics after they feed on prebiotics. As the bacteria in our gut feeds off of the fiber and ferments it, they produce what are called short chain fatty acids.
[Short chain fatty acids probably deserve their own article based on some new information coming out and how much they benefit our body and health]
The short chain fatty acids and other metabolites created from postbiotics help maintain the lining of our gut, influence our metabolism and neurotransmitters and contribute to anti-inflammatory effects. They can help support healthy cholesterol levels, balance blood sugar and even improve IBS.
So we can’t have all of these benefits if we don’t consume prebiotics aka fiber. We need fiber for so much more than just keeping us “regular”.
Yes, you can supplement these and some people may need to for a period of time while they work through healing their gut, however, food is powerful and the more we can get a variety of our pre, pro and post-biotics from the food we eat, the better we will feel.
Hope ya learned something new! - Coach Courtney