Prebiotics vs. Probiotics: What’s the Difference? – Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic

While we think of bacteria as invisible villains, your body is actually teeming with bacteria heroes.

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The gut bacteria (what scientists call gut microbiota) thatlive in your gastrointestinal tract are magical creatures. They help:

Can trendy probiotics and prebiotics keep gut health in tip-top shape? Gail Cresci, PhD, RD, an expert on the gut microbiome, offers her insights into the role pre- and probiotics may play in gut health.

In human intestines, there are many strains of two mainspecies of friendly bacteria, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, Dr. Crescisays. Probiotics and prebiotics both help those friendly bacteria, but indifferent ways:

These are live microorganisms isolated from humans and thencultured in a lab to be used as a supplement. When we ingest them (whether infood or supplement form), they survive in the gut and provide benefits to uslike the good bacteria that we naturally have.

This is a food source for the friendly bacteria in your intestinal tract. Our digestive system cant break down prebiotics, so they survive the journey through the digestive tract. They eventually reach the part of the colon where the friendly bacteria hang out. The bacteria have the chops to break down the prebiotics into nutrition that helps them grow and thrive.

In a healthy state, you can trust your gut to do all theright things for you. Since you already have a good composition of friendlybacteria, you wont need pre- or probiotics.

Americans, unfortunately, dont always live in a healthy state, Dr. Cresci notes. People dont eat the 25 to 35 grams of fiber that the gut bacteria need to survive and replicate.

For some people, it may not be a lack of fiber, but rather a chronic disease that results in not enough friendly bacteria in the GI tract. Gut dysbiosis refers to the bad state of the friendly intestinal bacteria in people whose condition may negatively affect the blend of good intestinal bacteria, she says.

Whether your diet is out of whack or you live with a chronicdisease, a probiotic supplement has the potential to help restore your gut tooptimum health. There are supplements commercially available that deliver bothLactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, as well as other probiotic species.

For most people, taking a probiotic is safe, says Dr.Cresci. I recommend people living with a chronic disease or who have asuppressed immune system discuss with their doctor about adding more probioticsto their diet to make sure that taking a probiotic is something they shouldconsider doing.

Since probiotic supplements can be hard on your wallet, Dr. Cresci recommends other ways to build your gut army, such as eating fermented foods like:

You can buy prebiotic supplements, but you dont need themif you eat the foods that fortify the army of friendly bacteria in yourintestines, Dr. Cresci explains.

She recommends these microbiota-loving foods:

Dr. Cresci is actively studying synbiotics, which combine aprebiotic and a probiotic.

A probiotic in a capsule may not survive while sitting onthe grocery store shelf or passing through the intestinal tract, she says.But when you combine it with its food source, the prebiotic, it has a muchbetter shot at staying viable until it reaches the part of the gut where itwill ultimately live.

Dr. Cresci recommends people get their probiotics andprebiotics from a healthy diet, but if you need to take a supplement, sherecommends choosing a:

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Prebiotics vs. Probiotics: What's the Difference? - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic