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.

1. Give the good bacteria the things they need to survive; they can’t do it alone!
   Probiotics are delicate and can die off very easily. By giving them the right food (prebiotics) and a hospitable natural environment, that they can multiply and colonize.
2. Avoid things that give the bad bacteria an upper hand.
   In the coming months I will talk about the various environmental factors, common in the Western world, that help give bad bacteria a fighting chance.

The gut, or gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) is where is all happens.  It is where you digest your food and where you get all your energy.  It is the one function of the body that if it goes wrong, your whole body will feel the effects in short order.

The GI tract is comprised of an array of organs that process your food and protect the body from the other items such as bad bacteria and viruses that make it into your food and water throughout the day.  But the bulk of the genes in the gut are bacterial based such that the gut flora (or beneficial bacteria) is commonly referred to as the “forgotten organ” since it plays such a vital role in your digestive tract.

And different bacterial species live in different regions of the gut.  Some like high acid regions of the stomach and some like low acid regions of the small intestine. Just like you have organs that secrete different enzymes in the mouth, stomach, and small intestine, you have different enzymes coming from the bacteria that also provide essential roles indigestion in the various GI regions.  Much of this information is now being discovered.

Probiotics literally means “for life” which is probably true since they do play a vital role in our digestive, metabolic and immune functions.  But being a microbiologist I find it a little bit sad because probiotics are actually “bacteria”.  

Sure, probiotics are just another way to say beneficial or essential bacteria, but I feel we collectively are shying away from saying bacteria because of the germophobe society we live in.  And as a microbiologist I’d rather set the record straight since the truth gives us a greater chance to help people.  I say this because if more to start recognizing good bacteria from bad bacteria and the actions or lifestyle changes that lead to giving good bacteria the upper hand, then we stand a much better chance of improving people’s lives.

As I get started with the Gut Bug Blog, I think it is important that we don’t use this blog site to tell people our mood or just point out the most recent probiotic news.  Rather I think we should educate about the mechanisms within the gut where beneficial bacteria are involved.  This will help set up a framework that shows why probiotics have tremendous potential and why probiotics products with the right ingredients matter.

Then as you read the latest health news or when we point out a specific article you will have deeper insight as to why probiotics are implicated in the headline of the day. I hope you learn lots.