Healthy At Home 4 MIN READ 1646 VIEWS September 27, 2021

Understanding How Prebiotics Benefit Gut Health

what are prebiotics for digestive health
What Does A Prebiotic Do For The Gut?
Prebiotics Benefits
In Which Food Items Can Prebiotics Be Found?

Eating healthy automatically benefit the gut. However, there are a few foods that aid and enhance gut health like nothing else. Yes, we are talking about Prebiotics. Prebiotics benefit the whole human body by promoting the growth of beneficial microorganisms, which boost digestion and keeps infections at bay. 

Prebiotics help the probiotics to flourish inside the body aiding digestion and overall gut equilibrium.  These are nondigestible fibre compounds, which serve as food for the probiotics, which are the living yeast and bacteria found in the body — these, in turn, contribute profoundly to taking care of your gut. 

Therefore, in this article, we will understand in-depth why and how Prebiotics can be the secret to a good, healthy, and happy gut. Before getting to know the health benefits of prebiotics, let us first understand what does a prebiotic do.


What Does A Prebiotic Do For The Gut?

Prebiotics are like fertilizers for the gut, which stimulate the growth of healthy and live bacteria. This bacteria helps to fight infections, aids digestion and boosts metabolism. From apples to bananas to berries, prebiotics are found in a lot of food items that we eat on a daily basis.

What are prebiotics for digestive health, and what does a prebiotic do can be understood in a very simple way. 

Prebiotics are present in food items that contain complex carbohydrates like fiber and starch. Whenever our body cannot digest such carbohydrates, they get passed through the digestive canal or the digestive system, where they become food for the beneficial bacteria and the other microorganisms residing inside us.  

Therefore, prebiotics promote the growth of the probiotics in our body to fight diseases and keep our gut super healthy. However, probiotics can only survive if you supply them with enough prebiotics.  

Now that you know what does a prebiotic do let us also understand the various benefits of taking prebiotics.

Prebiotics Benefits

When talking about the benefits of prebiotics, they do not just stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in the body but offer several other benefits as well. Some benefits of taking prebiotics include – 

  1. Digestive health

Many studies on prebiotics and probiotics indicate that prebiotics improves digestive health by supporting probiotic growth, which further enhances digestion and metabolism. All in all, it is safe to say that without the intake of prebiotics, probiotics also would not be able to function in the body for a long time.

  1. Benefits the Immune System

The benefits of prebiotics include increasing the population of microbes, which boost the body’s immunity, keeping infections at bay and fighting germs and viruses. Prebiotics stimulate the immune system by aiding the gut microorganisms, which impact the mucosal immune system on the whole.

  1. Improves The Mineral Absorption

Prebiotics benefits include helping the body absorb essential vitamins and minerals like magnesium, calcium, and others. These vitamins, once absorbed, are used by the body to carry out various functions. Vitamins and minerals are important to carry out several functions in the body. But over time as our gut health dips their absorption too gets affected in the body. This further leads to many associated diseases, especially osteoporosis and digestive troubles. Therefore, by simply increasing our intake of prebiotics we can help enhance mineral absorption in our body and improve overall health.  

  1. Prevents Obesity

One of the many benefits of taking prebiotics is that it keeps obesity at bay. It plays an essential role in improving the gut barrier and reducing the low-grade intestinal inflammation, which highly disturbs the metabolism and disrupts the absorption of fats. It also helps in secreting satiety-promoting peptides, which promote appetite and can be beneficial for someone who is highly at risk for obesity.

  1. Relieves Constipation

One major cause of constipation can be Intestinal dysbiosis, which can disturb the whole system of the human body. Prebiotics help in the growth of microorganisms like yeasts and bacteria, which help with constipation as they aid digestion. They also produce Short Chain Fatty Acids, which increase the blood flow and intestinal motility, which ultimately help with the whole excretory process and constipation. This is one of the most important health benefits of prebiotics. 

In Which Food Items Can Prebiotics Be Found?

Now that you know about the various prebiotics benefit and what does a prebiotic do, you must be wondering, in which all food items can you derive this marvel?

Well, prebiotics are found in food items that are rich in complex carbohydrates like fibre. Here are some food items which you can binge on if you want to intake some of the goodness that the prebiotics provides your body with.

  1. Oats
  2. Berries
  3. Onions
  4. Asparagus
  5. Apples
  6. Garlic
  7. Yams
  8. Barley
  9. Cocoa
  10. Flaxseeds

These are just some prebiotic foods that help with digestion and provide all the health benefits to the body. Many people are now becoming more conscious of what they are eating and consuming on a daily basis. Prebiotics benefit the human body by improving metabolic health and even preventing a lot of diseases like cancer and inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Found in many food items, Prebiotics acts as bliss for the gut as it keeps up with the digestion and provides many other advantages for the human body. In today’s day and age, people are also indulging in prebiotic supplements which provide similar goodness to the body. However, a person who eats healthy and takes good care of the diet need not take up artificially made supplements as our daily food provides the body with enough Prebiotics. All in all, Prebiotics are a bliss for the human body as it is magical for the gut, especially for someone who is suffering from gut problems. Prebiotics benefit the body in many ways, and therefore, it won’t be wrong if we call it the secret to a good gut.

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