Pre, Pro, and Postbiotics, what you need to know.

It’s a good day every time a new study highlights the role of food in providing healthy fuel for our gut flora and microbiome.

Let’s delve in and take a deeper look into pre, pro and postbiotics and why we want them in our lives.

A prebiotic is undigested food fiber found in fruit, vegetables, grains, peas and beans that provide fuel for our good bacteria. Prebiotics are the food our good cultures or probiotics feast on.

Probiotics are found in fermented foods such as kefir, miso or sauerkraut that contains actual live bacteria that contributes to good gut flora. This is important because our good guys or gut flora supports our environment including our skin, gut, and sinuses. Good gut flora is linked to every area of health including healthy weight, digestive health, immune balance and brain health.

Postbiotics, newer in research are substances including short chain fatty acids, some amino acids, vitamins B and K, that result from your gut digesting prebiotics and probiotics. Short chain fatty acid butyrate is a good example of a well studied postbiotic nutritional formula that I use often in restoring good gut health. Like prebiotics, short chain fatty acids play an important role in helping our good gut flora flourish.

The idea is to eat a large variety of foods rich in prebiotics and starchy fiber rich foods while weaving in small amounts of fermented probiotic rich foods throughout your diet. The higher the variety of fiber and prebiotic rich foods along with probiotic rich foods contributes to a higher diversity as well as a higher volume of good cultures or good gut flora and a much stronger microbiome to support health. 

Strengthening our microbiome and gut health improves nutrient availability and absorption, hormone balance, immune health, gut integrity and brain health. The good gut guys also lessen opportunity for depression, dementia, anxiety, leaky gut, dysbiosis (imbalance of microbes present in gut flora), diabetes, obesity, crohns/colitis disease, hypothyroid, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, high cholesterol, autoimmune conditions, infections, and cancer.

Current study authors find that nuts, coffee, tea, dark chocolate, and even red wine also contribute to good gut flora or microbial diversity.

Its follows then that research finds that severely limiting carbohydrate rich foods such as legumes, grains, potatoes and other starchy veggies result in a less diverse gut flora and not enough food supply to support optimal levels of good bacteria.

Essentially, the health or our gut microbiome depends in large part on the food we eat and effects every area of heath! 

From your garden, local farmers market or healthy grocer, stock your kitchen with plenty plant foods including prebiotic and probiotic rich foods.

Prebiotic Rich Foods - veggie: asparagus, barley, beans, buckwheat, bulgar, dandelion greens, eggplant, garlic, fresh herbs, jerusalem artichokes, leeks, lentils, oats, onion, peas, rye, soybeans, spinach, sulsify, wheat berries, Yukon and fruit: bananas, berries, cherries and remember dark chocolate, nuts and tea also contain prebiotics.

Probiotic Rich Foods - fermented foods kefir, kombucha, miso, natto (fermented beans), olives, pickles (try Bubbies brand) sauerkraut (try Bubbies, Sonoma, Farmhouse Culture brand), tamari, tempeh, tofu and yogurt are a rich source of natural healthy probiotic cultures found in the refrigerator section of your market. Fermented coconut yogurt is a good alternative to dairy yogurt. Always look for yogurt that contains less “added” sugar.

Note that fermented foods are a specific method of pickling, but, quite different. Pickled foods are preserved in an acid medium like vinegar. Fermented foods do not contain vinegar as vinegar destroys the good cultures we are after. Fermented foods are meant to cultivate the live cultures or probiotics adding healthy flora to our microbiome.

Are you up to a challenge? Aim to add a serving of a prebiotic rich food at most meals and a fiber rich starchy veggie every day.

Happy Eating!

For your health, Debra