Here at Humarian, we’ve put great effort into making our Probonix products stand out in the crowded probiotic market. Part of these efforts has gone into providing education and transparency about everything that goes into our products. To that end, we’ve written blogs on most of the components that make up Probonix. Probiotics are the most important ingredients. Your body needs good bacteria, and Probonix helps to supply your body with a diverse selection of beneficial bacteria. We’ve written about each individual strain that can be found in one of our probiotics. We’ve talked about our proprietary acid formula that coats and protects the probiotics to help them make it safely to the gut. There is one more essential component of Probonix that we haven’t spent much time discussing yet: prebiotics. Probiotics are organisms that need food to function and reproduce just like any other living thing. Prebiotics are what probiotics eat for fuel. More specifically, they’re fibers that your body can’t digest normally but can be digested by probiotic bacteria. We talked about some fibers that double as prebiotics a couple of months ago.
How does prebiotics work?
Prebiotics cannot be digested in the stomach and small intestine. As the rest of your food is digested, prebiotics passes through and make their way to the lower part of the gastrointestinal tract. Once they make it to the colon, healthy bacteria break prebiotic fibers down for fuel through fermentation. Prebiotics give the healthy bacteria in the gut the fuel they need to live and provide their many benefits.
What benefits can prebiotics provide?
A healthy supply of prebiotics leads to a healthier microbiota. Studies have shown that prebiotics increases the number of bacteria in the gut, especially beneficial bacteria like Bifidobacterium and Lactobacilli.1 When more prebiotic foods are present, good bacteria can more effectively reproduce and crowd out harmful bacteria and pathogens. Prebiotics are essential ingredients for probiotics to do their jobs most effectively. Some prebiotics has also been shown to increase the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs can offer benefits like reducing inflammation and improving bowel regularity.2 Other prebiotics have been shown to offer appetite-lowering effects. Inulin is the prebiotic used in Probonix. It is one of the prebiotics that has been shown to have positive effects on lowering appetite.3 So now you have the full picture of what’s inside Probonix and what each ingredient does. Several diverse strains of probiotics travel through the gastrointestinal tract. Once the probiotics arrive in the gut, they help to repopulate it with healthy bacteria. The proprietary acid formula coats the probiotics and protects them from the harsh conditions of the stomach to make it safely to the gut. The final piece of the puzzle is prebiotic. Inulin provides the probiotics with the fuel they need to work most effectively.
References:
1Sangwan, V., Tomar, S. K., Singh, R. R., Singh, A. K., & Ali, B. (2011). Galactooligosaccharides: novel components of designer foods. Journal of food science, 76(4), R103–R111. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2011.02131.x
2Hamer, H. M., Jonkers, D., Venema, K., Vanhoutvin, S., Troost, F. J., & Brummer, R. J. (2008). Review article: the role of butyrate on colonic function. Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics, 27(2), 104–119. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2036.2007.03562.x
3Harrold, J. A., Hughes, G. M., O'Shiel, K., Quinn, E., Boyland, E. J., Williams, N. J., & Halford, J. C. (2013). Acute effects of a herb extract formulation and inulin fibre on appetite, energy intake and food choice. Appetite, 62, 84–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.11.018