Prebiotics + Probiotics = Synbiotics

Prebiotics + Probiotics = Synbiotics
A simple equation for acheiving a happy, healthy gut.

Prebiotics = Food for probiotics
So what do probiotics – “good bacteria” – eat? Prebiotics is the simple answer that’s being used on product packaging and in the news. But what are prebiotics?

Prebiotics are chains of sugars (or carbohydrates) that we humans are incapable of digesting. These carbohydrate chains, often referred to as “fibers”, come from plant sources, including certain types of fruits and vegetables. Prebiotics include: carbohydrates, such as mucins, that are excreted in the guts of humans and other animals; chondroitins, which makes up animal connective tissues; and, chitin, which provides a shell for bugs, crabs or lobsters. Basically, anything that is a long string of sugars (or polysaccharides if you’re playing Scrabble) is a prebiotic.

So why do we need prebiotics? We need them because probiotics need them to do their job. Prebiotics perform a necessary preliminary function that helps probiotic gut bugs break the linkages between the sugars in prebiotics and turns the long indigestible chains into simple sugars that our bodies can use;

Probiotics and prebiotics work together to keep our guts health.  It’s sort of a symbiotic relationship: each one benefits from the other and neither is as effective alone. It makes sense, then, why scientists call products that contain both pro- and pre- biotics “synbiotics” – a happy marriage between good gut bugs and polysaccharides.

Not all fibers are created equal: the more complex the better
While many people have heard of prebiotics, few really understand how they work. It’s important to be aware of the differences between prebiotic fibers and to look for ones that are complex. Some fibers are derived from common sugars (like glucose, sucrose or fructose) and contain simple linkages between sugars. These are often referred to as cellulose (or starch), inulin, and fructooligosaccharides or FOS, and are all common ingredients in today’s health products. Other fibers, made up of unconventional sugars (like glucosamine, arabinose, mannose, or fucose) and joined by uncommon links to form long polysaccharide chains, are more complex.

This second group of fibers is more complex than the first, and from a gut health standpoint – the more complex the better! Complex fibers make your gut bugs happy because they require more varieties of bugs to do the work in breaking down the fiber. In other words, a greater number of gut bug species are able to feed off of complex fibers, which thus allows a greater number of beneficial bacteria to live and colonize in the gut.

-Dave