Prebiotics + Probiotics: Working Together for Improved Gut Health

You may have tried probiotics before because you’d heard about their health benefits or they were recommended to you.

You’ve likely had a lot of questions. You may have wondered how they actually worked or how they should be taken.

With so much information out there and so many products available, it can be overwhelming.

Probiotics are important of your total health. But how do you make them work? Probiotics are nourished by a type of dietary fiber called prebiotics.

Prebiotics are inactive agents that feed the good bacteria in your gut.

They strengthen your immune system and greatly improve gut function. They’re not commonly found in an average America’s diet. When you add them to your diet, prebiotics work with probiotics and the benefits are spectacular.

Probiotics foods play a crucial role in gut health and in a person’s overall health. Prebiotics boost the beneficial effects of probiotics to make the health benefits they offer even better. By adding both to a healthy diet and lifestyle, you amplify the health-advancing properties of these powerful components. 

What Are Prebiotics?

Prebiotics at heart are a variety of non-digestible fiber compounds. Prebiotic compounds, like any other foods high in fiber, pass through the upper gastrointestinal tract.

They stay undigested because the human body can’t completely break them down. What happens to them then? They pass through to the small intestine to the colon where the gut microflora ferments them.

Healthy adults can enjoy prebiotics found in foods like artichokes, bananas, garlic, greens, onions, soybeans, and whole grains. They are also available as dietary supplements. 

It’s important to know the recommended dosage and honor it to avoid gastrointestinal discomfort.

As with anything new, it’s best to introduce them in lower doses. Slowly increase your intake to better manage your tolerance level and cut potential side effects. 

What Are Probiotics?

Probiotics are good bacteria. Found in your gut, these beneficial microorganisms help with all the important functions that happen there. Probiotics are vital for digestion and have many important benefits too. 

They are easy to add to your diet. You can consume food rich in probiotics like kefir, kimchi, kombucha, miso, pickled cucumber, sauerkraut, and tempeh. You can also get these vital probiotics from quality supplements like Eco Biota. 

How to Use Prebiotics and Probiotics Together?

Prebiotics are selectively fermented ingredients that promote probiotics, providing fuel for good bacteria in the gut. The fiber we get from consuming whole, plant foods each day is vital to digestive and gut health as well as nutrient absorption. 

When you use prebiotics and probiotics together, the possibility of optimizing health level is real. That’s one really big reason people will want to include them in their diets. 

Microbiome therapy is the use of prebiotics and probiotics together. It’s not necessary to take prebiotics for probiotics to be effective. When taken together, the prebiotics makes the probiotics much more effective. 

Food sources that contain both prebiotics and probiotics are called synbiotics. Foods that are synbiotic includes cheese, kefir, and specific yogurt types. You can also buy synbiotics as dietary supplements. 

How Prebiotics and Probiotics Benefit Your Overall Health?

The prebiotics “feed” the probiotics, or the good bacteria in your gut. They create a byproduct called postbiotics. The three components offer a wide variety of benefits. They work together to improve your digestive system and your overall health. 

1. Enhanced Immune Function

A diet that includes foods rich in prebiotics or proper supplementation can cause a significant change in the gut microbiome’s composition to naturally boost immunity. 

Sometimes called the “prebiotic effect,” the process is tied to enhanced activities and biomarkers in the immune system. Levels of certain anti-cancer-promoting components and probiotics also boost immunity by enhancing nutrient absorption. They can also lower the gut’s pH to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria and potential pathogens. 

Prebiotics provide the fuel your gut bacteria needs to enhance immunity. When it comes to treating conditions like allergies, eczema, intestinal disorder, viral infections, and more, prebiotics can be beneficial. There are studies that say the prebiotic effect may even have contributed to the reduction of cancer cells and tumors. 

2. Helps With Weight Loss

Studies in both animals and humans show the favorable effects of certain prebiotic food products with improved energy balance and decreased weight gain. A connection exists between different types of fiber and lower body weights.

Studies have shown that prebiotic foods create a sensation of fullness triggering weight loss. The impact on hormones levels is also linked to appetite regulation. Some studies revealed that animals given prebiotics produce less of the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin. 

3. Improved Gut Health and Improved Digestion

Stimulating the growth of good bacteria so it can colonize gut microflora, prebiotics is fuel for probiotics. The prebiotic compounds balance harmful bacteria and toxins housed in the digestive tract which enhances digestion.

The indigestible fibers from your foods are caused by the beneficial bacteria in your gut for survival. When the bacteria in your gut try to metabolize the non-digestible fibers left over, they create short-chain fatty acids. They are actually compounds that also offer a wide variety of health benefits. 

When your gut microbiota composition is out of balance, it can cause a great many problems. It can result in inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The Journal of Nutrition’s 2012 report revealed that prebiotics in conjunction with probiotics are effective in the treatment of the following:

• Diarrhea (particularly after antibiotic use)
• Chronic diseases like Crohn’s diseases, ulcerative colitis, and other specified intestinal infections
• Irritable bowel syndrome and its symptoms
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Leaky gut syndrome

4. Lower Inflammation

Inflammation is one of the causes of many chronic diseases. It’s actually your body’s responses to external threats like infection, stress, or toxins. In a healthy situation, inflammation provides a valuable service for our bodies. In a less desirable situation with immune cells overreacting, inflammation fights against us. Inflammation is also a contributing factor in cancer, diabetes, obesity, and more. 

A healthy intake of prebiotics is valuable in the fight against chronic disease and reduces inflammation. Prebiotics help regulate the immune system and have a strong anti-inflammatory response. Studies have shown that a healthy gut can turn off autoimmune reactions. 

5. Lower Risk of Heart Disease

You can reduce glycation when you eat foods with high prebiotics or supplement with them. Glycation increases free radicals, lowers insulin resistance, and triggers inflammation. That can set the stage for heart disease. The cholesterol-reducing properties of prebiotics help prevent heart disease and autoimmune disorders like arthritis. Prebiotics are also useful for balancing your mineral and electrolyte levels that help regulate blood pressure. 

6. Protects Bone Health

Prebiotics help in the absorption of minerals in the body like calcium, iron, and magnesium. Because of this bones are stronger and there’s a reduced risk of fractures and osteoporosis. One study showed that eight grams of prebiotics a day had a big impact on calcium absorption and resulted in a bone density increase. 

7. Regulates Hormone Levels and Mood

Discussion on the “gut-brain connection” are still in their early days. Yet it’s becoming clear that there is a link between anxiety along with depression and gut health. Many things impact our mood and hormonal balance including the state of your gut. One of your gut’s job is to absorb and metabolize nutrients from your food. That’s important to help neurotransmitters operate to produce hormones like serotonin that help ease your stress.

Prebiotic and Probiotic Supplementation and Eco Biota

Sometimes you can’t meet your needs for prebiotics and probiotics through diet alone. You’ll want to consider supplements in such a case. It’s important to look for products like Eco Biota that contain actual prebiotics not compound with prebiotic-simulating effects. Select products from a reputable manufacturer with a high standard of quality. 

It’s vital to pay attention to the recommended dosage to avoid gastrointestinal problems from taking too much too soon. Begin with a low dose and slowly increase the amount to learn tolerance levels to avoid any side effects. 

Eco Biota is a daily synbiotic that is clinically-formulated to harness the power of advanced prebiotics and probiotics. It’s produced by a company in Japan with more than 100 years of experience in producing the finest probiotic products. 

Do Something Good For Yourself

• By increasing the amount of prebiotics you ingest, you improve your gut health and immune system. You can reduce inflammation, improve your heart health, and regulate hormone levels and moods. It can help in your weight loss efforts too. 
• Prebiotics are used as food by the good bacteria in your gut. They are a variety of indigestible fiber compound that’s fermented.
• By adding quality prebiotic supplementation to your diet each day, like Eco Biota, you can enjoy the long list of health benefits they have to offer.

The more we learn about functional foods, the more we realize how connected gut microbiome is to our total health. It’s also of vital importance to include enough prebiotics and probiotics, through whole foods or supplementation, into your everyday diet.