What are prebiotics?

Prebiotics are natural, plant fibers that are non-digestible by the body. They are present in the diet and function as a fertilizer for probiotics. Good microbes in the gut feed on these complex carbohydrates and grow in numbers, thus improving the ratio of good bacteria to harmful bacteria in the gut, which in turn promotes overall wellbeing of the body.

Prebiotics promote the growth of good bacteria in the gut, thus enhancing overall gastrointestinal health.

Probiotics are found in fermented dairy foods like yogurt, aged cheese and kefir. Aged cheese contains live cultures of organisms such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. Non-dairy foods such as soy beverages, miso and kimchi also contain beneficial microbial cultures.