The buzz words of probiotics have been circulating for a long time now. As kids we were told to drink our Actimel and Yakult mini bottles. They were fun. Then research pointed out that the live bacteria in those drinks were in such small numbers that it was a-drop-in-the-ocean measure for our gut health. So we switched to supplements. They could cram 10, 20, 30 billion live bacteria. Then the European Union introduced a regulation that stopped food manufacturers and producers of supplements to include any health claims associated with probiotics in their products.
Feeling confused? You are not alone.
It is in our interest to get familiar with both pre- and pro-biotics - to prevent inflammation, stay off some digestive issues (gas, constipation, food intolerance, IBS) and strengthen our immune system.
Our gut, i.e. our intestines, is the place where all the nutrients we get from food are digested and then transported to the body tissues. The gut is said to have anywhere between 30 to 400 trillion microorganisms, or simply - gut bugs. Among these are bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa - all living side by side in our gut. These bugs, together with their associated genes are called our microbiome.
Our gut bugs thrive on all kinds of fibre - vegetables, pulses and legumes, in fact, they feed on them. As a by-product of this digestion, they produce anti-inflammatory short-chain fatty acids, or SCFAs. Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, bok choy, cabbage) are especially good for doing that. SCFAs repair the inflammation that our body has, whether it occurs directly in our gut (as such IBS), or manifests as food intolerance, heart disease or skin rash.
In fact, our gut bugs and our immune system are not separate things operating in their own selected zones. They have a deep and strong interrelationship. There is a direct link between the diet choices we make and the composition of our gut bugs. Depending on the species of bugs we have in our gut, we either feel like reaching for a fresh salad packed with veg or crave a super sweet pastry, over and over. Recent research on the gut bacteria shows that our gut bugs change our metabolism, affect our brain functioning and our mood, have a role in the levels of stress we experience and alter the body's signalling processes, including our level of hunger or satiety.
A 2018 study published in the "Journal of Physiology" studied the effects of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) on the behaviour resulting from chronic stress levels in mice.
The study found that pshychosocial stress (which is stress we perceive when there is an imbalance between demands placed on us and our ability to manage them) could be improved by giving SCFAs supplements. Giving a group of mice SCFA supplements was shown to decrease the levels of anxiety‐ and depressive-like behaviour compared to the control group. In addition, the SCFAs supplements decreased gene expression of receptors involved with stress‐signalling in the hypothalamus, hippocampus and colon.
Another study, published in January this year in the "Journal of Neuroscience" , found that short chain fatty acids can improve post-stroke recovery.
The researchers hypothesised that short-chain fatty acids might be the missing link in the gut–brain axis that might be able to aid recovery after stroke in mice. Stroke is known to change the microbiome composition, and in turn, a gut dysbiosis has a substantial impact on the outcome of stroke by modulating the immune response.
By adding SCFAs to the drinking water of mice, the researchers found that the group that had SCFAs experienced a better recovery after stroke compared to the control group.
The supplementation of fatty acids showed reduced motor impairment as well as increased spine growth on the dendrites of nerve cells, which are crucial for memory structure. The group also expressed more genes related to the brain immune cells.
Our microbiome is highly susceptible not only to the levels of stress we experience, but also to air pollutants, toxins from the environment and also medications we take. Most GPs these days recommend to take some pro-biotics after a course of antibiotics they prescribe to their patients. The reason they do that is because antibiotics wipe out thousands of good bugs from our gut leaving us with a bad balance between good and bad bacteria.
Pro-biotics are existing live bacteria that are either the same or similar to the good bugs in our gut. In natural form, probiotics occur in fermented foods, such as kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, bio yogurts. In supplements, the two most common probiotic chains are lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. Although there are lots of really good supplements with probiotics, we need to be mindful that if the pack claims to have 20 billion live bacteria and our gut hosts 30 trillion, then the effect of the supplement is of little help to us.
That's where pre-biotics come in. Some of the vegetables, fruits and legumes we eat have a type of fibre that is hard for our body to break down and digest, these are complex carbohydrates. Research claims that our ancestors ate between 50 and 150 grams of complex fibre per day, which is almost 10 times more than most of us eat today. This type of fibre feeds the bugs in our gut, simply speaking, new good bugs are grown from it. The list of foods that is rich in pre-biotics is: onions, garlic, artichoke, leeks, Brussel sprouts, chicory root, cauliflower, bananas (green), raw potatoes, okra and a few more.
Once our gut bacteria is at a right balance, where there is a high diversity of gut bugs and the 'good' ones are in excess to the 'bad', our body's main functions work in synchrony. However, if one of the chain of the bugs is not present or is in small quantities, that's when a variety of issues may arise - inflammation, food intolerance, allergies and even diabetes.
Remember the old parental saying "Finish all your vegetables on the plate"? It makes perfect sense now.