Gut health is the key to healthy living and keeping the gut healthy is definitely a rocket science.
Gut microbiomes play the most crucial role in health and wellbeing. They are considered as a super-organisms. Prebiotics provide food to probiotics which helps in keeping our gut healthy.
Prebiotics are nonviable food ingredients which pass without getting digested in the upper gut, reaches the colon in an intact state and are fermented by a limited number of beneficial
bacteria.
https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/prebiotic-products-sources-of- bacteria_11097548.htm
Gut microbiome performs many crucial functions in the body like production of Vitamins like B- complex, helping the host to digest food, extracting the additional calories as well as metabolism of complex carbohydrates to make short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). It also plays a role in competing with potential pathogens and inducing the secretion of antimicrobial peptides through interaction with intestinal epithelial cells.
Prebiotics have been seen to be protective against colon cancer which is the most common form of cancer in the entire human population. Prebiotics stimulate eubacteria that are benign and not clostridia that are toxic protecting against development of cancer. The best property of prebiotics is its resistance against toxic bacteria which causes inflammation in the gut.
Inflammation is the main cause of all the autoimmune conditions ranging from hashimoto’s
thyroiditis to irritable bowel diseases.
Prebiotics not only provide protection against diseases but have also been proven to increase calcium absorption, decreasing the chances of osteoporosis. Although the main site for calcium absorption in humans is in the small intestine, some of it is also absorbed throughout the length of the gut. When probiotics are fermented in the gut, they produce short chain fatty acids resulting in reduction of pH in the colon. This increases calcium solubility and overall levels of calcium absorption in the gut.
Elevated levels of cholesterol in blood increases the risk of coronary heart diseases as well as stroke. Prebiotics have been seen to reduce the triglyceride levels in blood with regular
consumption.
How can you include prebiotics in your diet?
Currently there are three prebiotics that are naturally available in fruits and vegetables-inulin, oligosaccharides and arabinogalactans. Inulin has been seen to reduce the chances of irritable bowel syndrome, colonic cancers and coronary heart diseases as well as help in absorption of minerals. Onions, leeks, radishes, carrots, coconut meat and flour, flax and chia seeds, tomatoes, bananas, garlic, chicory root, dandelion, Jicama and yams are natural sources of prebiotics.
There are also manmade prebiotics available in the market like Fructooligosaccharide, Xylo-oligosaccharides, Galacto-oligosaccharides etc. These prebiotics have been proven to reduce the chances of cardiovascular diseases, immune modulation, traveler’s diarrhea and gut disorders.
These prebiotics can be added into smoothies and other drinks as well as solid food products like roti, Indian sweets and fermented foods like idli, dosa’s, etc.
References
– Using probiotics and prebiotics to improve gut health – ScienceDirect
– Modulation of the Human Gut Microflora Towards Improved Health Us…: Ingenta
Connect
– Frontiers | The Role of Probiotics and Prebiotics in Inducing Gut Immunity | Immunology
(frontiersin.org)
– Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics: Gut and Beyond (hindawi.com)
– Prebiotics – ScienceDirect
– Probiotics and prebiotics and health in ageing populations – ScienceDirect
– advancedvitality.s3.amazonaws.com/nourish/docs/Lin_Impact-of-the-gut-microbiota-
prebiotics-and-probiotics.pdf
– The Top 33 Prebiotic Foods for Your Digestive System (drjockers.com)
– Prebiotics in foods – ScienceDirect