What are Probiotics?

Probiotics, defined as live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer health benefits. Probiotics, or beneficial bacteria, help move food through digestive system. They can be used to treat inflammation, which can begin in your gut.

Probiotics supplementation may be helpful even for a healthy-looking adult or teenager. This is because living in a fast-paced society, many people especially the white collar would opt for fast food so that they could save time in eating and to be on-the-go. While an occasional night of fast food will not hurt, a habit of eating out could contribute to unbalanced diet which may disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut.

Besides unbalanced diet, many facets of modern life such as too little sleep, high level of stress and taking antibiotics can all damage the balance of your gut microbiome. This may affect other aspects of your health, such as the brain, skin, ability to absorb nutrients and even immune system because 70% of immune cells are found in your digestive tract and probiotics may have a positive impact on boosting immunity and reducing inflammation.

While probiotics are gaining attention and recognition from the Malaysia government, many products have emerged in the market and making claims with no proof of efficacy. Therefore, it is important to be a smart consumer when it comes to choosing the right probiotics product by reading the label.

How to read the label?

1. Find for the words “Contains (x number) of Probiotic Cultures.
2. Look for the full scientific name of the probiotics bacteria that contains in the product, the genus, species and strain of the probiotic cultures should be clearly stated.
3. The direction for storage before and after package is opened.

Albeit an array of probiotic food or supplement, the type, quality and quantity of probiotic bacteria to be consumed should be prioritized when making your choice.

What are Prebiotics?

While probiotics are well known as living strains of bacteria that add to the population of good bacteria in your digestive system, there has been little focus on prebiotics and their health benefits. Both prebiotics and probiotics have their own key functions in maintain the health of the human gut. Prebiotics are natural, plant fibre that acts as food for the good bacteria. They are present in the diet and function as a fertilizer for probiotics that stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut. Good bacteria in the gut feed on prebiotics and grow in numbers, thus improving the ratio of good bacteria to harmful bacteria in the gut, which in turn promotes overall wellbeing of the body.

Prebiotics are found in many fruits and vegetables, especially those that contain complex carbohydrates, such as fibre and resistant starch. These carbohydrates are not digestible by your body, so they pass through the digestive system to become food for the bacteria and other microbes. The list of prebiotic foods is long, from asparagus to yams. As prebiotics occur naturally in many foods, so it may not be compulsory for people to take prebiotic supplements for most healthy people.

A helpful metaphor to understand the difference between probiotics and prebiotics may be a garden. You may add seeds – the probiotic bacteria while the prebiotic fibre is the water and fertilizer that helps the seeds to grow and flourish.

Both probiotics and prebiotics are encouraged to take regularly and they can be taken at the same time to establish a healthy routine and establish a happy gut!