When it comes to optimizing your gut health, it’s important to familiarize yourself with prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics.

All three play different roles when it comes to your microbiome, but they all are essential to your overall well being.

In this article we will break down the difference between these elements, how they work in the body, and the best way to optimize them.

Prebiotics: Setting the Stage

To understand prebiotics, think of them as the fuel for the good bacteria in your gut.

Prebiotics are a type of nondigestible fiber found in certain foods. These substances pass through the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract undigested and stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial bacteria in the colon.

Probiotics need prebiotics in order to thrive. Prebiotics also promote the body’s production of postbiotics.

Key Takeaway: A healthy gut starts with prebiotics to help cultivate a balanced microbiome. Adequate intake of natural prebiotics is the foundation of a healthy gut!

Benefits of Prebiotics:

✅ Improves digestion and overall gut health

✅ Promotes regularity

✅ Influences blood sugar regulation

✅ Aids in calcium absorption

✅ Helps supports a healthy metabolism and promotes satiety

Probiotics: The Active Players

Probiotics are live microorganisms, often referred to as “good” or “friendly” bacteria, that live in the microbiome. You have trillions of bacteria that make up your gut microbiome, and of those trillions there are over 5,000 different strains or species.

These beneficial bacteria can be found naturally in certain fermented foods, like kefir, sauerkraut, miso, kimchi, and yogurt. But they are primarily produced in the gut itself through the digestion and fermentation process of prebiotics.

The bacteria in your microbiome is constantly fluctuating depending on your food and drink intake, stress levels, and any medications you’re taking. The key to a thriving microbiome is keeping a healthy, diverse balance of gut bacteria.

Key Takeaway: Consuming enough prebiotics through your diet along with a balanced lifestyle should support your microbiome naturally, without the need for supplementation. Consuming probiotics without providing adequate fuel (prebiotics) may not generate long-term results and improvement.

Benefits of Prebiotics:

✅ Improves overall gut health and digestion

✅ Supports a healthy immune system

✅ Promotes a healthy gut brain connection

✅ Helps to reduce inflammation and promote regularity

✅ May aid in lowering cholesterol and supporting heart health

Postbiotics: The True Stars

Postbiotics are the metabolites or byproducts produced by certain probiotics during fermentation in the gut. They are commonly known as short-chain fatty acids in the form of Butyrate.

Postbiotics have an anti-inflammatory effect on the colon, and help repair the gut lining, amongst other benefits. They create a healthy gut environment for the beneficial bacteria in the gut to thrive.

In fact, many of the benefits attributed to Probiotics, are actually the results of the Postbiotics that Probiotics produce!

Key Takeaway: Postbiotics are produced by certain probiotics (healthy gut bacteria). They keep the colon and get lining healthy and are responsible for maintaining a healthy environment for your microbiome.

Benefits of Postbiotics:

✅ Lowers inflammation in the digestive tracts

✅ Helps to repair and maintain the gut lining

✅ Inhibits abnormal cell growth in the colon

✅ Boosts brain health and aids in neuroregeneration

✅ Promotes a strong immune system

 

Life cycle of a healthy gut: the relationship between Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Postbiotics

Prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics are interconnected — prebiotics fuel the growth and activity of probiotics, which in turn produce postbiotics. Postbiotics then create a healthy gut environment, which allows prebiotics to be easily assimilated and for probiotics to thrive.

Their relationship is cyclical. Each works together to play a crucial role in supporting gut health and overall wellness, but they also all serve different functions and come from different sources.

So that leaves the big question: do you need to supplement prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics? And if so, what actually works?

Supplementing Prebiotics

The best way to up your prebiotic intake is by eating fiber rich foods. The average recommended daily intake of fiber for women is 25-30 grams and for men is 30-35 grams, depending on age.

While there are prebiotic supplements, the amount of prebiotic contained in a capsule is miniscule to what your body actually requires. You need to be consuming foods rich in prebiotics for it to have a positive effect on your microbiome.

Many fiber based foods will contain some prebiotics, but certain foods have a higher concentration.

Click here for a chart of high fiber foods on the Mayo Clinic website.

Foods high in Prebiotics:

Asparagus
Garlic
Oats
Chicory Root
Yacon Root
Bananas
Barley, Wheat, and Rye
Jerusalem Artichokes
Cocoa
Chia seeds
Dandelion Greens
Onions and Leeks
Almonds
Apples
Beans such as lentils
Berries

Generally speaking if you eat a high amount of fiber everyday, you will get in enough prebiotics to fuel your microbiome.

If, however, you struggle to get in enough fiber you may want to try our Prebiotic Protein Powder.

Every ingredient in this hemp based protein powder is packed with prebiotics, and each serving contains 8 grams of fiber (that's 25-30% of your RDA)! The rich cocoa and clean vanilla flavors make it easy to blend with a wide variety of flavors.

This can be an easy way to up your prebiotic fiber intake on a daily basis, while also getting in a dose of plant based protein and healthy fats.

Supplementing Probiotics

Supplementing with probiotics has become quite popular, but are they actually doing anything?

The tricky part about probiotic supplements is that it is very difficult to keep live organisms active in supplemental form. Most probiotics on the shelf are not likely alive to begin with, and those that are can easily be destroyed by stomach acid before even making it to the colon.

In order for a probiotic to make it to the colon it needs a special encapsulation to keep it active through the digestive process.

Now the question is, if a probiotic supplement makes it to the colon, will it be helpful? And the answer is a little tricky.

The average probiotic supplement has 4 or 5 strains. However, there are over 5,000 strains that exist in the microbiome! The few strains that are in the probiotic supplement may have an impact if you happen to be low in those particular strains.

However, if you don’t need those strains the probiotic may actually have an antagonistic (not so good) effect on the microbiome. Too much of one strain is not necessarily a good thing! This is because maintaining a healthy microbiome is a delicate balance, and too much of a particular strain can throw off this balance.

Ultimately the best way to maintain that healthy balance in your microbiome is to make sure you are consuming enough prebiotics to fuel the microbiome to begin with. Your microbiome will be constantly fluctuating, but if you are fueling it properly your body will keep its own natural balance.

In other words, by providing your body with the right dietary fuel (prebiotic fiber) you support and allow it to do exactly what it’s supposed to do, naturally!

Supplementing Postbiotics

Postbiotics are the newest gut health supplement to hit the market, and one that may just have the biggest impact on the body.

In order for your body to naturally create enough postbiotics naturally you need to be taking in a lot of prebiotics, as they fuel probiotics to make postbiotics. If you are not getting a sufficient amount of fiber rich foods on a daily basis, there is a good chance that your gut is low in postbiotics.

If you have any sort of existing gut compromise, that is another good indication that you are low in postbiotics.

As mentioned above, a lot of the benefits attributed to probiotics are actually because probiotics make postbiotics. Lack of postbiotics can lead to inflammation, poor digestion, leaky gut, and abnormal cell growth.

When the gut is compromised it can make it harder for the body to assimilate fiber based foods and extract the prebiotics. This is where supplementing with postbiotics can be a game changer.

In addition to having a direct benefit on the gut by repairing the gut lining, postbiotics help create a healthy environment for the microbiome to thrive. They help improve digestion, making it easier for your body to absorb and break down prebiotics. And by lowering inflammation they help the microbiome maintain a healthy balance of beneficial bacteria.

Postbiotic supplements come in a variety of forms based on different types of butyrate.

At Healus we utilize liquid tributyrin, which is the most pure and bioavailable form of butyrate.

We also use a patented delayed release capsule, to ensure optimal absorption in the intestines. Supplementing with Healus Complete Biotic may be one of the easiest ways to get your gut back on track.

For more in depth info, see our article: All about butyrate and tributyrin — health benefits, absorption, and side effects

Summary: It’s all connected

In summary, prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics all contribute to a healthy gut environment, which is essential for overall health and well-being. They all work together to create an optimal microbiome.

Eating fiber rich foods and supplementing with postbiotics can help keep these three elements thriving. By providing the building blocks for a healthy microbiome (prebiotics) you support and allow your body to naturally produce the right balance of flora.

If you’re experiencing symptoms of dysbiosis, supplementing with a postbiotic can help provide faster relief and healing.

Probiotics, while popular and the most well-known, may only provide limited and/or short term relief but don’t support a healthy system on their own.