Should I be taking a probiotic?

This article is an updated version of the article that was originally published on July 23, 2012 titled “Get those -biotics into your gut!” I wrote the original article as I was going through Gut School. My goal was to share all the amazing information I was learning and get readers super pumped about gut health. This article has been one of the most-read articles on the blog to date! You can read the original article here or keep reading for new information on the topic!

We all should be taking probiotic supplements, right?

Hold the kale. Before we can answer that question, we need some more information. It’s not a simple yes or no answer.

Probiotic supplements have become extremely popular over the last several years. They’re now in so many different foods from yogurt to drinks to protein bars to cookies. (ok, I made up that last one…but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone really was working on that!) 

There are even skin care products containing probiotics. 

But there’s so much more to the story….

This week in Gut School, we dove into the health clues the body gives about what’s going on inside. Unfortunately, we waste these precious clues. You are literally flushing GOLD down the toilet every day. 

But this post isn’t about what’s in the toilet. It’s about what happens in order to make the stuff that ends up in the toilet happen.

Today, I wanted to write about something else we covered in class that is so incredibly important, the “-biotics” we need in our gut and how to get them there. 

I’m talking about prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics. I bet you’ve only heard of one of those -biotics. Before reading Fiber Fueled by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz from The Plant Fed Gut, I had only heard of probiotics. 

First up, probiotics. Probiotics are living microbes that have beneficial qualities for humans. When you take a probiotic supplement, you are ingesting microbes.

Next, prebiotics. Prebiotics are foods that feed your healthy gut bugs. They allow the probiotics to grow, reproduce, and benefit us (their host). 

Finally, postbiotics. This is where it gets really interesting. Postbiotics are compounds created by the good gut microbes. This is where the magic happens! 

Here’s the fancy formula, which would be great to keep in the back of your head (there may be a test at the end of this article…):

Prebiotics + Probiotics = Postbiotics

We need all three of these -biotics to have a healthy gut, and therefore, a healthy body. You may have heard me say it before, human health is largely determined by gut health. That’s really important. 

How do you get all these “-biotics” inside your body? Can’t you just take a pill? 

My stance is always that we should try our best to get nutrients from food, first, and only if needed, look to supplementation, temporarily. 

However, I’ve said it before, there’s no money in Big Kale. But there’s HUGE money in the pharmaceutical industry. So there’s a lot behind the marketing for something like probiotic supplements. So choose wisely. 

There is a time and place for supplements. You can read more about how I use probiotic and prebiotic supplements to help my clients resolve their digestive issues in this previous article.

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are found in certain types of fiber. 

Yes, fiber helps keep us “regular”, but it also has been shown to help reduce the risk of chronic disease, lose and maintain a healthy weight, and feel full, amongst other things. 

Fiber only comes from plants. Most soluble fiber is prebiotic but most insoluble fiber is not. And we need both. A few food sources of prebiotic fiber include raw honey, miso, soy sauce, seaweed, cocoa, green and black tea, pomegranate, apple, blueberries, and reishi, shiitake, and maitake mushrooms. 

Prebiotics are also found in resistant starches. These are found in foods like oats, rice, potatoes, and legumes. To increase the resistant starch in potatoes, bake them, then let them cool, and then reheat them. Each time you do that, the resistant starch increases. 

Besides food sources, there are lots of prebiotic supplements to choose from. They include psyllium husk, partially hydrolyzed guar gum, acacia powder, and wheat dextrin (Benefiber). Adding one of these supplements can help to ease diarrhea and constipation and is beneficial for overall good health. There is an art to beginning one of these supplements or you’ll end up like ballon floating through NYC at the Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Hold up. What the kale, Lindsay? Weren’t you just talking smack about supplements?

Let me explain. Prebiotic supplements, such as acacia powder, are different than say, vitamin A supplements for a few reasons. 

First, these supplements are not really supplements, they are the powdered forms of plants. There’s nothing else in them. No fillers, dyes, preservatives, anti-caking agents, no capsules, etc. It’s just the dried plant material. But they are categorized by the FDA as supplements because they are used for therapeutic reasons. 

Second, I don’t know about you, but I can’t just go cut down an acacia tree and start eating the branches. (please don’t try that!) So, an easy solution is to take the supplement in order to get those good prebiotic fibers. 

Probiotics 

This is where the science gets a little iffy. There may be more marketing hype around these supplements than what the science actually supports, especially when it comes to supporting general health. 

To review, probiotics are the microbes living in your gut that feed off the prebiotics you eat but can’t digest.

You could take a probiotic supplement. But the problem is, that probiotics are living things. If you take them in pill form, they need to survive the very acidic environment of your stomach and then make it all the way down to your colon, or large intestine. That’s a difficult task.

Let me be clear here, you cannot offset a bad diet by taking a probiotic supplement. 

They are not magic pills. They can be rather expensive, especially when you consider that your stomach acid kills many of them if they are not protected. There are more BAD probiotic supplements out there than there are GOOD ones.

Another thing to note is that most probiotics do not stick around after you stop taking them. They don’t usually colonize your gut permanently. They do produce postbiotics, which is great, but a few days after you stop taking them, it’s like they were never there in the first place. 

In my coaching practice, many of my clients find great relief when using high-dose probiotics in combination with other supportive herbs, supplements, and foods. In many cases, we use supplements to rebalance the gut until the body can do so on its own.

Think of probiotic supplements as a crutch for your body when you’re less than 100%. They’re not a forever solution.

With the exception of a few chronic conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, not everyone probably needs to be taking them. A better way to spend your money may be on eating fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, and taking a prebiotic supplement. 

Want to learn more about how to incorporate probiotic-rich foods into your daily life? I created a cheat sheet with my 10 favorite foods for good digestive health. You can grab your FREE copy by clicking the button below.

Ok, now for the real magic….postbiotics! 

This is a super complicated topic so I’m going to keep it short. 

You know how we produce waste after food goes through us? That’s the same thing that happens to those bacteria in your gut. Only it’s not waste to us! They’re postbiotics! These postbiotics are called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and researchers are finding SCFAs are the key to good gut health. 

One in particular is even helpful to prevent obesity and heart disease. Many clients I work with are completely missing the microbes that produce them!

The only way you get postbiotics, or SCFAs, is by feeding your microbes. There’s no “postbiotic pill”. 

It’s also important to note that it’s not just your good gut bugs that produce waste products. The bad guys do too. However, we don’t want their waste products because they can lead to inflammation, infection, and other nasty things. 

The more good gut bugs you have, the more SCFAs you have. The more bad gut bugs you have, the more inflammation, infection, and toxicity you have. 

Which would you prefer?

What’s the bottom line? 

In my opinion, we all could do a better job of eating more plants and, in particular, more prebiotic and probiotic plants so our good gut bugs are happy and well-fed.

The only way to truly know what’s going on with your gut bugs is to work with a qualified practitioner who can help you assess and test your gut microbiome and then develop an individualized protocol to support your body. 

Lucky for you, that’s EXACTLY what I do with my clients through my Happy Gut, Happy YOU! Virtual health coaching program. You can find out more about this program and how to schedule your FREE consultation call by clicking the button below.

Resources:

Zhao et al., “Gut Bacteria Selectively Promoted by Dietary Fibers Alleviate Type 2 Diabetes”; Seth Rakoff-Nahoum, Kevin R. Foster, and Laurie E. Comstock, “The Evolution of Cooperation within the Gut Microbiota,” Nature 533, no. 7602 (12 2016): 255–59, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17626.

Asa M. Henningsson, Inger M. E. Bjorck, and E. Margareta G. L. Nyman, “Combinations of Indigestible Carbohydrates Affect Short-Chain Fatty Acid Formation in the Hindgut of Rats,” The Journal of Nutrition 132, no. 10 (October 2002): 3098–3104, https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/131.10.3098.  

J. Phillips et al., “Effect of Resistant Starch on Fecal Bulk and Fermentation-Dependent Events in Humans,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 62, no. 1 (July 1995): 121–30, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/62.1.121.

Glenn R. Gibson et al., “Expert Consensus Document: The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) Consensus Statement on the Definition and Scope of Prebiotics,” Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology 14, no. 8 (August 2017): 491–502, https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2017.75.

Johnson W. McRorie, “Evidence-Based Approach to Fiber Supplements and Clinically Meaningful Health Benefits, Part 1: What to Look for and How to Recommend an Effective Fiber Therapy,” Nutrition Today 50, no. 2 (March 2015): 82–89, https://doi.org/10.1097/NT.0000000000000082.