In striving for a healthier digestive system we need to understand a little about both prebiotics and probiotics because this is crucial in improving the balance of our intestinal flora.
The intestinal flora is the beneficial bacteria which resides in our gut, you may also have heard it referred to as probiotics.
Along side all this good bacteria also lives the bad bacteria also called pathogens.
Now that we have set up our environmental scene in our intestinal tract, we can imagine that with all this friendly and unfriendly bacteria swimming around in there, that hopefully there is an 80 / 20 ratio in favor of the good guys, if it tilts too much the other way we could experience digestive disorders.
How do we keep the balance right? That's what it's all about, keeping that balance right, and to do that is really quite simple; feed the friendly bacteria (probiotics) the foods they need to grow and multiply.
Hint: If we feed them a specific type of foods, not only will the probiotics benefit greatly, but this same food will inhibit further growth for the pathogens.
What is this awesome food you ask? Prebiotics.
It sounds quite simple and it really is, but unfortunately most of us have such a poor quality, low nutrient diet of high processed foods that we don't get nearly enough of the nutrients needed to keep a healthy intestinal flora environment.
Probiotics Many people have bought into the probiotic myth in recent years thinking that just eating probiotic supplemented yogurt would turn their digestive health around.
There is nothing wrong with eating yogurt but more resent research has found that because probiotic bacteria is not self-supporting, it must have the nutrients of prebiotics to support them.
Prebiotics Unlike probiotics, prebiotics are found in natural foods (probiotics are only found in fermented food).
It's a list of foods we have been told to eat all our lives by not only our mothers but the health professionals too.
Foods like whole-grains, legumes, vegetables, and fresh fruits.
Now you ca understand why anyone favoring a modern western high processed diet isn't getting very many quality nutrients.
Supplements While probiotic supplements certainly can't hurt, proving you buy high quality ones and not one of the many inferior, or even useless products so abundantly available in the marketplace, but that's another story, to increase the intestinal bacteria balance positively getting a quality prebiotic supplement can help.
Keep in mind that fiber-only supplements such as inulin and psyllium husk, even though they're a good source of fiber, are not what we call a prebiotic supplement.
Prebiotics do not start and end with fiber, as scientists once may have thought.
A quality supplement uses foods as it's source because of all the other beneficial nutrients such as enzymes and phenolic compounds as well as dietary fibers.