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Many people are acquainted with probiotics, corresponding to sure yogurts and fermented meals, filled with “good” micro organism that may maintain the intestine wholesome.
You may even have heard of prebiotics, meals wealthy in complicated carbohydrates (dietary fibre) that assist foster good micro organism within the giant gut. Standard prebiotic meals embrace oats, nuts and legumes.
However what about postbiotics? What are they and the way do they have an effect on our intestine well being?
Learn extra:
What must you eat after you have been on antibiotics? And may probiotics and prebiotics get your intestine again to regular?
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What’s a postbiotic?
Postbiotics are basically the by-products of our intestine microbiota. In different phrases, your physique produces postbiotics after digesting prebiotic and probiotic meals.
Examples of postbiotics embrace the short-chain fatty acids butyric acid (or butyrate), acetic acid (or acetate) and propionic acid (or propionate).
These molecules are produced when good probiotic micro organism break down dietary fibre from meals corresponding to vegatables and fruits, grains and legumes.
These postbiotic molecules are vital to your intestine microbiota. Wholesome probiotic micro organism thrive on these short-chain fatty acids in our intestine.
And a few postbiotics might help suppress “unhealthy” micro organism. For instance, probiotic micro organism (corresponding to Lactococcus lactis) produce particular chemical compounds known as bacteriocins which may stop the colonisation of pathogens like E. coli within the intestine. This course of is called “colonisation resistance”.
Microbial fermentation is the place microbes within the intestine break down complicated carbohydrates. Microbial fermentation of plant-based diets (that are wealthy in polyphenols), particularly, results in the manufacturing of the postbiotic phenylacetic acid. This postbiotic can scale back the expansion of dangerous pathogens within the physique.
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Not all postbiotics are good
Not all postbiotics are heroes, although.
One sort of postbiotic is bile acids, that are produced once we eat too many high-fat meals.
Bile acids have been linked to irritation and colon most cancers.
Staying on a high-protein, low-carbohydrate weight-reduction plan for the long run usually means individuals don’t eat sufficient fibre, which is linked to a better threat of colon most cancers.
This can be because of the manufacturing of hazardous postbiotics like bile acids.
What’s the hyperlink between postbiotics and most cancers?
Our current evaluation (led by my colleague Kayla Jaye at Western Sydney College) discovered short-chain fatty acids – notably butyrate – have proven promising outcomes in opposition to breast and colorectal most cancers cells in earlier laboratory research.
One medical research confirmed colorectal most cancers sufferers produced considerably decrease ranges of short-chain fatty acids of their intestine than wholesome individuals.
One other research discovered the numbers of micro organism that produce short-chain fatty acids had been low in premenopausal breast most cancers sufferers.
Some mobile and animal research have additionally reported that the postbiotic butyrate might help chemotherapy work higher in opposition to breast most cancers and regulate the immune system.
As reported in epidemiological research, a fibre-rich weight-reduction plan, notably complete grains, can decrease the chance of colorectal most cancers. That is primarily as a result of fibre-rich diets result in the manufacturing of short-chain fatty acids within the colon.
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OK nice, so what do I eat to get extra postbiotics in my intestine?
Dietary fibre is the important thing.
Men and women ought to eat a minimum of 25 and 30 grams of fibre, respectively, every single day. However few Australians meet this advice.
The easiest way to enhance the degrees of fine postbiotics is to eat extra greens, fruits, legumes, wholegrain bread, nuts and seeds.
Jerusalem artichokes, garlic, onion, leek and asparagus are improbable prebiotic greens.
A weight-reduction plan wealthy in vegatables and fruits will increase the degrees of postbiotics like short-chain fatty acids within the intestine. It additionally helps scale back bile acids.
Intestine well being is all about variety, which implies consuming quite a lot of fruits, greens, legumes and complete grains to help wholesome intestine microbiota.
You may as well embrace fermented meals like sauerkraut and kimchi in your weight-reduction plan. These fermented meals have each prebiotic fibre and stay probiotic micro organism, which might help produce wholesome postbiotics within the intestine.
In fact, additional analysis is required. However to make sure good intestine well being, it is best to embrace loads of fruits, greens and legumes in your weight-reduction plan.
Deep Jyoti Bhuyan doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or organisation that may profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their tutorial appointment.