You’re probably already familiar with probiotics , but their most important co-factor is rarely mentioned and that is prebiotics, a class of plant fiber that’s non-digestible in humans, but that serves as the critical food source for the probiotic bacteria that occupy your colon and bowel.
Probiotics, as you may already know, are the living bacteria that colonize our intestinal tracts and perform a number of important functions related to digestion and immune protection. They’re a natural feature of the gut and body, and prebiotics are their food source. Probiotics consume and ferment this food source in order to increase mineral absorption, promote the production of short-chain fatty acids, protect the intestinal lining, balance hormones, and facilitate the proper elimination of waste.
Unlike probiotics, which are extremely sensitive to heat and stomach acid, prebiotics are virtually indestructible in the human body. As much as 90% of ingested prebiotic fiber is eliminated from the small intestine fully intact. This might sound like a bad thing, but it’s actually critically important because it’s the only way that the entirety of the probiotic ecosystem (which lives all throughout the roughly 28-feet of large and small intestines), is able to receive adequate nourishment.
In other words, our bodies need both prebiotics and probiotics in order for the gastrointestinal tract to function as it should. You can take all the probiotics in the world, but if you aren’t also taking prebiotics, you’re not going to see the results you hope to achieve.
To put it another way, throwing seeds in the ground without fertilizing is not getting all the results possible.
