Why Probiotics and Prebiotics are Important for a Healthy Gut

|We all know the importance of probiotics – they are good bacteria that help regulate our gut. But what about prebiotics?

Although you may not know much about them, prebiotics and probiotics together help you maintain overall wellness, improve your gut health, boost the immune system, and prevent many ailments. Many foods contain probiotics and prebiotics in natural forms.

Keeping your gut happy should be one of your main health goals. If your gut isn’t happy, the rest of your body may fall weak eventually. A healthy gut equals a happy body.

Please note: The information contained in this article is not mental health or medical advice. If you are concerned about your health or well-being, please seek professional support from a doctor or hospital. This post contains affiliate links.

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Why Probiotics and Prebiotics are Important for a Healthy Gut

Probiotics and prebiotics are vastly different but they complement each other to improve your health. Pro- and prebiotics rich foods can be made part of your diet to reduce and prevent recurrence in health concerns.

What is the Work of Probiotics?

We have already established the fact that probiotics are good bacteria in your gut. For a healthy gut, a balance between good and bad bacteria is important.
Our lifestyle, the food we consume, and other factors, such as age, can reduce the number of good bacteria and that’s when we start feeling queasy, constipated, and indigested.

The work of probiotics is to break the food we eat and digest them, maintain our gut health, regulate our immune system, and manage the production of hormones, insulin, and leptin, both of which play a vital role in the way we think and react. Leptin and insulin are responsible for producing neurotransmitters (GABA, dopamine, serotonin, etc.).

Related: How to Manage Your Gut Health

How Does the Good Bacteria Help Your Health?
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• Keep your digestive system healthy and reduce diarrhea, improve the symptoms of irritable bowel syndromes (IBS), autoimmune diseases (Crohn’s disease), UTI, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Having a probiotic-rich diet is a natural remedy for constipation.
• Healthy bacteria (Streptococcus thermophiles, Lactobacillus crispatus, and Lactobacillus acidophilus) protect your body from bad bacteria, including yeasts, fungi, and microbes.
• Reduce the severity of infection caused by diarrhea and prevent diarrhea caused by taking doses of antibiotics.
• A healthy and balanced gut directly affects your mind. Probiotics improve psychological conditions, such as anxiety, depression, memory loss, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
• Can help reduce blood pressure level naturally when consumed daily for over 8 – 10 weeks.
• Can aid (Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactobacillus rhamnosus) in weight reduction by effectively blocking fat storage.

What is the Work of Prebiotics?
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Prebiotics are required to boost the growth and function of our gut bacteria. Prebiotics are derived from certain plant-based foods’ non-digestible fibers. Inulin, galactooligosaccharide, and oligosaccharides are different types of prebiotics found in fibers. Note that while all prebiotics is fibers, not all fibers contain prebiotics.

How Does the Good Bacteria Food Help Your Health?

Apart from providing nutrition to good bacteria, prebiotics benefits our body in the following ways:

• According to a significant study, prebiotics contains potential anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, aid in immune assistance, and enhance mineral absorption.
• Normalizes blood sugar level and is proven beneficial in monitoring prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
• Since they are sourced from fiber, prebiotics aid in weight loss and prevent obesity by channeling our minds to feel full for a long period.
• Prebiotics aid in the absorption of minerals, especially calcium and magnesium, both are crucial for bone health and growth.

The above information was published in bits in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, The Endocrine Practice, The British Journal of Nutrition and The Journal of Nutrition respectively.

How Prebiotics and Probiotics Complement each other?

Probiotics are incomplete without prebiotics. On the other hand, if there are no healthy bacteria in your gut, prebiotics will be of no use. One is fuel, while another is food. If both are not available in adequate quantity, your body will starve and create a host of problems, such as irritable bowel syndrome, derailed immune system, constipation, and piles in severe cases.

Which Foods are Best Source of Probiotics and Prebiotics?

Probiotics are found richly in sour and fermented plant or dairy-based foods, such as:

• Unsweetened, yogurt
• Unpasteurized, low sodium, pickled vegetables
• Kefir, made out of cow’s milk or coconut milk
• Kimchi, made from fermented vegetables
• Freshly fermented Sauerkraut (cabbage)
• Tempeh and Natto, dishes made from fermented soybean

Prebiotics are particular dietary fibers found in the following foods:

• Jicama, a Mexican yam
• Onions
• Leeks
• Dandelions greens
• Raw chicory root (could also be found in coffee substitute)
• Ripe bananas
• Leafy greens, such as spinach
• Acacia gum or acacia fiber (the best source of prebiotics)
• Garlic
• Asparagus
• Lentils, beans, chickpeas, and other legumes

 
Make sure you consume different types of probiotic foods to get the most benefits and increase their potential. Furthermore, try to consume prebiotics in their natural form, such as raw vegetables to preserve most of their fiber content.
 
Thanks to our guest author for this article!

Henna is a proficient writer who firmly believes in the age-old remedies and holistic medicine as a primary cure for several diseases. After graduating she embarked on a journey to find the truth about holistic and natural remedies.

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