What Are Prebiotics and Why Do We Need Them?

A simple definition of prebiotics

Prebiotics are plant fibers that promote the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut.

Bacteria and the gut

The gut contains millions of bacteria. Bacteria live symbiotically in our gut microbiome and are crucial not only for the healthy function of our digestive system, but also other systems in our bodies. Maintaining the right balance is essential for good health.

When the bacterial balance gets out of whack the gut is in dysbiosis, which can lead to adverse health conditions with symptoms of bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, skin irritation, and even depression just to name a few effects of gut bacteria imbalance.

In a healthy digestive system, the ratio between good and unfriendly bacteria should be 80% to 20%.

What role do prebiotics play in a healthy gut microbiome?

Prebiotics are essentially food for probiotics – the healthy bacteria in your gut. Prebiotics are undigestible fiber that passes through your upper gastrointestinal tract and stimulate the growth of the good bacteria in your large intestine.

Prebiotics were not identified as a means for maintaining health until 1995 and thoughts and theories about how they work to help the digestive system are still evolving. It is currently thought that prebiotics may not only promote the growth of healthy bacteria but may also inhibit the growth of unhealthy bacteria.

Prebiotics and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The best sources of prebiotics include raw vegetables, grains, legumes, ripe bananas, green bananas and plantains, chicory root, and acacia gum. If you are following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet™ you will immediately note that many of these foods are not allowed on the SCD™ diet. Many others are difficult for people with active symptoms to digest.

It’s a bit of a Catch-22, but the goal of course with SCD™ is to heal the gut to the point of being able to eat many of these prebiotic foods. As inflammation begins to subside, you’ll be able to diversify your diet to include a wider range of nutritious foods that will cointinue to help build balance in your microbiome.

I’ve included a list of SCD™ legal prebiotic foods below.

SCD™-friendly prebiotic foods:

Ripe Bananas (low prebiotic source)
Garlic
Honey
Asparagus – raw or lightly cooked
Artichokes
Leeks
Onions
Legumes
Raw apple cider vinegar
Dandelion greens (I have never seen these, but I’ve heard they are more available in the southern states)
Shiitake, maitake, and reishi mushrooms

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Sherry Lipp

Founder at Happy Gut For Life

Sherry is a Certificed Holistic Gut Practioner, author, and recipe creator. Sherry started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet in 2000 and has been creating delicious, grain and gluten-free recipes ever since. She is the author of the Don't Skip Dessert SCD cookbooks.