Prebiotics – What are they and why are they so important?

1. They Keep Your Gut Happy and Healthy 

In partnership with probiotics, prebiotics are great for gut health. These fibrous foods help maintain a healthy gastrointestinal system by increasing the presence and diversity of good bacteria. The good bacteria are able to use the prebiotic fibers to survive and produce short-chain fatty acids. Some of these fatty acids can then be used to improve the lining of the gut. Prebiotics also help improve overall digestion and reduce the risk of leaky gut syndrome, Candida virus, IBS and other intestinal issues. 

2. They Reduce the Risk of Cancer 

Healthy consumption of prebiotics has been shown to decrease the number of free radicals and cancer cells in the body. Specifically, colon cancer is associated with increased toxins in our bodies that are not removed quickly enough. Many studies have shown a decrease in tumors and cancer cells in those who eat a diet packed with prebiotics.

3. They Keep Your Blood Pressure in Good Shape

While prebiotics don’t directly lower blood pressure, eating prebiotics helps balance the body’s mineral and electrolyte levels. When this happens, blood pressure levels begin to decrease because minerals and electrolytes are directly related to blood pressure. How cool, right!

4. They Help Maintain Healthy Hormone Levels
A happy gut is a happy YOU! Plenty of recent studies have found links to our gut health and our mood regulation. Some are even calling our gut our second brain (which definitely feels true when you skip lunch!) Prebiotics and probiotics help your body absorb essential nutrients that help build hormone chemicals. In fact, some research links mood disorders like anxiety and depression to imbalanced gut health. 80% of the serotonin we need to help us function is made in the gut.

5. They Increase Immune Function and Lower Inflammation in the Body 
Prebiotics and probiotics help with healthy bowel movements, which helps reduce allergies and infections while boosting overall immunity. They also help our bodies absorb essential nutrients, which gives the body energy to keep immune function running smoothly and keep inflammation at bay. Inflammation is linked to a laundry list of diseases that can occur in the body, but prebiotics keep levels of good bacteria up, which keeps inflammation down.

 6. They Help You Maintain a Healthy Weight
Eating tons of fibrous foods (aka prebiotics and probiotics) can help you stay fuller longer and stay on track with your weight loss goals. Yep, that’s right – prebiotics are great for weight loss. They are also directly linked to the prevention of obesity and balanced energy levels.

7. They Help You Manage Stress 
Research has recently shown that gut health impacts the body’s ability to create and release stress hormones. Consuming prebiotics can make positive cortisol changes in the event of stress.

Types of prebiotics

Prebiotics are found in fibrous veggies, beans, some grains and oats. Inulin (chicory root), acacia gum, green banana flour and coconut fibre are also prebiotics.

How much fibre or prebiotics should we consume?

of 28g for woman and 35g per day. Fibre aka prebiotics are vitally important to our gut health, immune health and mental health.

Not getting enough fiber in your diet leads to fiber deficiency. Fiber helps support your gut and microbiome health, so if you don’t get enough fiber, you may experience irregular bowel movement, constipation, blood sugar fluctuations, lack of satiety after eating, weight gain, inflammation or a rise in cholesterol levels. There are a large number of microorganisms that reside in our gut that are integral to maintaining a healthy immune system, and fiber is what feeds these microorganisms and allows them to do their job. Without proper amounts of fiber, the health of your immune system may also be compromised.

The gut microbiota use fibre as their food. It is very important to keep them fed as they make short chain fatty acids like butyrate, which reduce the risk of inflammatory diseases, type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease.

Failing to meet daily fiber intake recommendations may also affect your mood and cognition. When levels of healthy bacteria in the gut are stabilized, the risk of mental health disorders such as depression are lowered. Fiber helps improve mood and cognition through the “second brain,” which refers to the nerves in the intestine that communicate with the brain.

Our focus at NuMeSA is gut health. We have put together a range of prebiotic powders to help you reach you daily fibre target.

Our prebiotic powders all contain 4 types of prebiotic fibre, kefiran – derived from water kefir grains which contains probiotics and medicinal mushrooms which support gut health.