Sure, you know about prebiotics and probiotics but what are postbiotics you ask?
Here, Will Bulsiewicz explains what they are and why they’re beneficial.
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Related to prebiotics and probiotics, postbiotics are essentially the endgame goal of all your gut health efforts.
The entirepointis about postbiotics, says gastroenterologistWill Bulsiewicz, MD, author of the upcoming book,Fiber Fueled.
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So why should we care about the latest and greatest biotic compound to come up in the wellness world?
We asked Dr. Bulsiewicz to share the 411 on postbiotics and why theyre so important.
What are postbiotics and how are they different from pre- and probiotics?
Before we continue, heres a quick gut health refresher.
(you’re able to obviously also find them in supplement form.)
Prebiotics, meanwhile, Dr. Bulsiewicz says, feed the good bacteria in your gut.
Prebiotics are fuel, or energy, for your bacteria.
It helps bring back the good guys as quickly as possible, he says.
They dont colonize the gut permanently, Dr. Bulsiewicz says.
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This is where postbiotics come in.
This is a relatively new term (hence why you may not have heard it before!)
They eat food, it ferments in the gut, and voila, you have postbiotics.
Dr. Bulsiewicz has this formula for understanding postbiotics: prebiotics + probiotics = postbiotics.
And that gift is postbiotics, he says.
Per the IJMS article, they can include short-chain fatty acids, proteins, and metabolites.
These different compounds have different functions in the body, and thus can have different kinds of benefits.
What are the potential benefits of postbiotics?
Dr. Bulsiewicz says one postbiotic, butyrate, can help reverse the effects.
Butyrateis a short-chain fatty acid, which is produced when you consume soluble fiber.
That soluble fiber gets metabolized and consumed by the healthy bacteria inside of you to produce butyrate.
Then, butyrate helps heal your colon, he says.
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Again, maximizing your postbiotics requires feeding your bodys probiotics with a variety of prebiotics.
How to do that, you ask?
Byeating more fiber, aka the best source of prebiotics there is.
And when that happens, youre gearing yourself up to reap loads of potential health benefits.
When it comes to postbiotics, theres clearly still a lot to learn.
As if we needed another reason toeat more plants.
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