When your gut microbiome is thriving, this may help support immunity 13, boost mood 14, and even be protective against certain diseases in some people, says Wong. And prebiotics, as we’ve mentioned, also play a role in that balance. When you consume the right strains and in adequate amounts, probiotics can support the gut microbiome, says Wong. What are some other potential benefits of probiotics and prebiotics? Wong also suggests aiming to have a serving of fruit with each meal and trying two different types of veggies with lunch and dinner, if that’s an option for you. And if you always top your salad with tomatoes, maybe you cycle among bell peppers, roasted zucchini, or berries as well. For instance, rather than always eating rice as your dinner side, try to sub in quinoa or pasta some days, if you can, or mix up the type of fruits and vegetables you add to your smoothies. To diversify your sources, try to incorporate different options throughout your meals, says Wong. Vibrant vegetables and fruits, like leafy greens, sweet potatoes, eggplant, artichokes, tomatoes, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, butternut squash, cauliflower.Herbs, spices, and seasonings like garlic and onions.Whole grains, such as quinoa, buckwheat, rice, corn, and pasta.The good news is that dietary prebiotics are commonly found in a whole bunch of fiber-rich foods: “Prebiotic fibers aren’t absorbed in the stomach or small intestine, so when they reach the colon, microbes feed off them, which ultimately helps them grow.” Ideally, this should make for a diverse and balanced gut microbiome 12. “The goal of a prebiotic is to promote the growth of good bacteria that are already there,” says Dr. When you consume fermentable fibers, research suggests that they feed beneficial microbes, helping increase and strengthen good guys 12 such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, so that they occupy more surface area in your gut lining, Wong says. Prebiotics are the nondigested plant fibers, or carbohydrates, from food that the gut ferments to produce beneficial chemicals.

Now, let’s talk more about how prebiotics come into play. These LBPs are in the early stages of development and are “specifically engineered to colonize the gut and be beneficial” to people with specific health conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, and Clostridioides difficile infection, he says. That’s important, since a properly functioning barrier serves as a line of defense that keeps harmful bacteria and substances out of your body 10.Īlong with dietary probiotics, there’s also an emerging class of probiotics called live biotherapeutic probiotics (LBPs) 11, Dr. They break down fiber (the prebiotics that we’ll talk about later), and the byproducts from that fermentation-which include short-chain fatty acids-help feed your intestinal cells and keep your intestinal barrier healthy, Wong says. Once there, the probiotics produce beneficial chemicals 9 that support your immune system and inhibit the growth of bad microbes in the gut, Dr.

The microbes stick around there for some time, depending on your gut’s structure and environment, says Wong. Then they travel to the colon-an environment home to many different species of microbes. The microbes that survive make it to the small intestine, where some of them will pass through. They pass through your stomach, where most of them are killed. When you eat fermented foods, the microbes enter your digestive system. Strains of bacteria-such as Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium 8-are typically used in the fermentation of foods. When we talk about probiotics, we’re most often referring to dietary probiotics, or those naturally present in food sources.

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