What is a postbiotic? | Goop

The gut microbiome

The gut microbiome is made up of groups of different microbes – mostly bacteria and yeasts – that live in the lining of the digestive tract. This microbiome evolves and changes throughout our lives: our first microbes usually come from our mothers during the process of vaginal delivery and breastfeeding, and we gain more during childhood, most of it from the foods we eat. Genetics play a role, too. In adulthood, the gut microbiome tends to stabilize, but it can still be changed through some lifestyle habits, such as diet, as well as disturbances such as stress, travel, antibiotic use, and certain prescription medications.

In a healthy microbiome, the bulk of these microbes are either beneficial or somewhat neutral to us. They live in harmony with our bodies and perform functions that we cannot do on our own, such as digesting certain foods and producing certain nutrients. Microbes that are not good for our bodies are usually controlled by beneficial organisms because they compete for space in our bodies. Certain disruptive events may lead to an overgrowth of these poorer microbes, leading to: Yeast infection And terms like Overgrowth of intestinal microflora (SIBO).

(Our bodies also contain a microbiome outside the gut: We have communities of microbes almost everywhere, like the skin, mouth, and vagina.)

Probiotics

While they often consist of types of bacteria similar to those found naturally in the microbiome, probiotics are live and active cultures grown in a facility with the specific purpose of modifying the body’s natural microbiome. You find it most often in capsules. Some of them need to be cooled; Others are shelf-stable. The types of microbes found in a probiotic supplement vary. If you are taking probiotics for a specific purpose, the type you take is important: Like the microbes naturally present in your gut, the microbes in probiotics perform different functions in the body.

We measure probiotics in active colony forming units or active fluorescent units rather than volume or weight. Both CFU and AFU calculate the number of viable microbes per serving – which typically falls in the billions. Expect CFU vision more than AFU: AFU takes advantage of the latest and most accurate technology and includes microbes that may not count in CFU (if the microbe is active but not cultivable, CFU does not count), but it is not particularly common yet. Higher numbers of CFU or AFU are not necessarily better. The best dosage of any given probiotic strain is one that has shown results in scientific studies.

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are any compound that feeds bacteria in the gut. Usually, the fibers that our bodies cannot digest otherwise, such as inulin and some polysaccharides, are those fibers that bacteria grow on. This process is part of the reason gut microbes exist in the first place. We do something good for them by providing them with food and a place to live, and they do something good for us by supporting various functions in our bodies, such as digestion and immunity. (In biology, this type of reciprocity is called a symbiotic relationship.)

Prebiotics are found naturally in many plant foods. If you eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, you are likely to get a lot of prebiotics from food alone. If you want extra support, you can look for a supplement that contains prebiotics. (Consult your doctor first: For people with certain intestinal disorders, such as SIBO, prebiotic supplements can worsen symptoms.)

It may be helpful to pair probiotic and probiotic supplements. Science suggests that prebiotics may help improve the viability of probiotics as they make their way through the gut. Some groups have begun using the word “synbiotic” to describe a supplement that contains both prebiotics and probiotics, such as Seed’s Daily Synbiotic.

Postbiotic

To summarize: Fungal and probiotic microbes are active bacteria and yeasts. These bacteria and yeasts thrive by consuming prebiotics. Postbiotics is what remains after those prebiotics are digested and fermented in the intestine.

Postbiotics is an emerging and developing field. Most of the scientific research on postbiotics has been published over the past decade, and unlike prebiotics and probiotics, there is no consensus yet on what is postbiotic and what is not. Currently, “postbiotic” is an umbrella term that represents all types of functional compounds that have been metabolized by microbes and fermented in the gut. Some of them may have significant benefits for our health and our potential applications in medicine, while others may be just waste. It’s exciting stuff – Goop’s registered dietitian, Thira Burns, thinks postbiotics might be the next big thing in dietetics. “We already know that eating fermented foods is good for the gut,” says Burns. “Researching postbiotics may help us figure out why.”