The field of nutrition is full of mysteries and elements that still need to be studied in depth. the microbiota is one of the great examples. We are talking about the community of microorganisms that live inside the human body and who are intimately related to us. This means that the presence of certain microbes is related to certain healthy parameters, while in other species they are linked to a greater predisposition to certain diseases.
Generally we tend to focus on bacteria, since they are the majority compared to other organisms such as viruses or archaea. In addition, the microbiota located in the intestine – intestinal microbiota – is usually the main protagonist of this matter due to its close relationship with food. Most of our microbiota usually settle in the colonmost representative part of the large intestine.
Does our microbiota influence health, or vice versa?
For years it has been theorized whether the microbiota could influence our health, modulating certain parameters that influence the appearance of different metabolic diseases. For example, the role of the microbiota in obesity is one of the great areas of scientific interest in this area. Some scientific publications seem to indicate that a healthy microbiota is also related to optimal health.
In this sense, certain studies suggest that obese people have a greater number of Firmicutes compared to thin people. In contrast, a microbiota rich in Bacteroidetes could indicate a lower incidence of metabolic diseases such as obesity. If you wonder what the hell these strange words mean, you should know that both Firmicutes What Bacteroidetes are the two main bacterial phyla or divisions in the intestinal microbiota. In fact, they make up 90% of our total microbiota.
what are prebiotics
Once the microbiota has been introduced, it is important to know the protagonists of today’s text. One of them is prebiotics, components framed within dietary fiber whose regular intake in the diet is related to better health markers: cardioprotective benefits, improvement of insulin resistance and protection of the immune system, among others.
In this sense, prebiotics serve as food for the microbiotaexpressed very simply. And how do they do it? First, the indigestible fibers that make up prebiotics reach the large intestine intact, and that’s where our bacteria metabolize them. In this way, an intake of prebiotics is considered beneficial for the health of our microbiota, since it favors the presence of interesting bacterial species.
Foods that contain prebiotics
Of course, foods may contain prebiotics. In fact, most of them are located in fruits, vegetables and vegetables, as well as legumes. Foods like Garlicthe onion, the soythe oatmeal or the asparagus are good sources of them. Also fruits such as pear, apple or the Kiwi among many others.
Specifically, the fructooligosaccharides (FOS) They make up a very interesting type of dietary fiber for intestinal health and the immune system. We also find galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) in breast milk, inulin in vegetables such as banana wave artichoke or the famous resistant starch: a compound generated by cooling starchy foods such as potatoes or rice. In this case, the starch molecules undergo a process known as “retrogradation” of starch that gives it the advantages of dietary fiber.
what are probiotics
Secondly, probiotics are live microorganisms that benefit and contribute to a healthy diversity of the microbiota. While prebiotics are inert compounds embedded in dietary fiber that feed the microbes in our gut, probiotics are beneficial microbes themselves.
Some of the most studied and well-known probiotics are those belonging to the family lactobacillusamong other things because some species participate in the process of production of dairy products As the yogurt. Specifically, it is the kind Lactobacillus bulgaricus beside Streptococcus thermophilus who is responsible for carrying out the fermentation of yogurt.
Are probiotics beneficial?
If you are wondering if any of these bacteria have benefits for human health, the truth is that it is not entirely clear. Despite what we might think, the current scientific evidence is quite limited on the benefits of the different probiotics. In fact, they only have a healthy declaration validated by the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and approved by the European Commission live bacteria in yogurt: Lactobacillus bulgaricus Y Streptococcus thermophilus. And it is relative to the digestion of lactose.
the lucky bacteria Lactobacillus bulgaricus Y Streptococcus thermophilus allow yogurt—and the fermented milks that contain it—to use the phrase “This product improves the digestion of lactose” or similar mentions. To do this, yogurt or fermented milk must contain at least 108 colony-forming units (CFU) per gram of the aforementioned microorganisms.
If you wonder what is the difference between yogurt and fermented milkthey only differ in that yogurt can only have the bacterial strains Lactobacillus bulgaricus Y Streptococcus thermophilus. On the other hand, fermented milks are so called because, in addition to the aforementioned bacteria, they may contain additional ones. This is the case, for example, of the well-known product Activia and its “bifidobacteria” that have bombarded us with aggressive marketing campaigns for eons.
Not all that glitters in the supermarket is yogurt 🔎
Did you know that neither of these two products are yogurts?
That’s right, both Activia and Actimel contain other ferments than those that yogurt must have in order to be called “yogurt” according to Spanish law ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/VBzGWjSUv7
– Mario Sánchez Rosagro (@SefiFood) June 14, 2022
If you wonder about the benefits of Activia, it turns out that EFSA itself has rejected some applications for the healthy claims of these bacterial strains belonging to the family Bifidobacterium. Be careful, because this does not mean that these bacteria are not beneficial for intestinal health. Simply that, for the moment, there is no conclusive scientific evidence to justify it for the EFSA. At a minimum, we can say that active is not better than other conventional yogurts.
Foods that contain or are probiotics
As with prebiotics, we also find everyday foods that are themselves probiotics because they contain certainly interesting bacterial species for human health. The clearest example is the aforementioned yogurt, but also other dairy products such as kefir. If we look at other categories of products, we also find probiotics in sauerkraut, kimchi or kombucha, since these foods are fermented thanks to the action of beneficial microorganisms.
In order to be considered a food rich in probiotics, it is necessary that the product does not undergo a heat treatment during its preparation that eliminates said microorganisms. Bread, for example, has yeasts that start a fermentation process. However, these yeasts do not remain in the final product as they are inactivated by cooking. For this reason, bread could never be considered a probiotic food: it does not have live bacterial strains that can be a healthy plus when we eat it.
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