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/.
Prebiotics
Prebiotics are a group of nutrients that promote the flourishment of the human microbiota within the gut. The general clinical definition of a prebiotic is “a substrate selectively utilized by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit”. The International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) defines the criteria of prebiotics as a substance resistant to gastric pH and cannot by hydrolyzed by mammalian enzymes or absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, has the ability to be fermented by gastrointestinal microbiota, and the substance greatly stimulates the activity of gastrointestinal flora. Prebiotics are most often nondigestible short- chain carbohydrates coming from plant sources, however, for a carbohydrate to be classified as a prebiotic, they must be a fiber with greater than 3 degrees of polymerization and cannot be hydrolyzed by endogenous gastrointestinal enzymes. Types of classified prebiotics include fructans, galacto- oligosaccharides (GOS), starch and glucose- derived oligosaccharides, pectin- derived compounds, and cocoa- derived flavanols. Prebiotics are naturally occurring in plants and cow’s milk, and thus can be obtained through a well- rounded and balanced diet (Davani- Davari D).
The health benefits of prebiotics are wide, ranging from improving gastrointestinal health and regulation, improving cognition, learning, and mental clarity, anti- inflammatory and endocrine regulation, including decreased water retention, and improved lipid metabolism. Multiple clinical studies have been conducted to study the effects. For Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), prebiotics may have some benefit, and most notable can slow the progression of colon cancer. The effects of prebiotics on immune function are significant and multiple studies show a significant impact in aiding immune function and response. Prebiotics may also be neuroprotective and improve cognitive function. Prebiotics can also be beneficial in preventing dermatological conditions, such as atopic dermatitis. Cardiovascular protection can also be provided by promoting lipolysis of harmful lipids that increase risk of cardiovascular disease (Davani- Davari D, Yadav MK).
Prebiotics have little to no side effects, especially if they are consumed from food sources. Patients may experience gastrointestinal side effects such as diarrhea, bloating, and cramping, from the fermentation process that microflora cause as part of the digestive process (Yadav MK).
Despite the benefits prebiotics may bring, every individual has a unique composition of their gastrointestinal flora, which causes variations in responses between people. However, because prebiotics are digested and fermented by these bacteria, the effects that they exert are the same. Patients looking for health benefits from prebiotics may begin with incorporation of more foods containing these substances, including onions, garlic, cow’s milk, oat and wheat, and other foods. If needed, patients may buy supplements containing prebiotics as well, which can be sold on their own or as a symbiotic in combination with a probiotic (Davani- Davari D, Yadav MK).
Citations:
Davani-Davari D, Negahdaripour M, Karimzadeh I, et al. Prebiotics: Definition, Types, Sources, Mechanisms, and Clinical Applications. Foods. 2019;8(3):92. Published 2019 Mar 9. doi:10.3390/foods8030092
Yadav MK, Kumari I, Singh B, Sharma KK, Tiwari SK. Probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics: Safe options for next-generation therapeutics. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2022;106(2):505-521. doi:10.1007/s00253-021-11646-8