Recently, among people who pay attention to health care, there has been a wave of probiotic supplementation. Many merchants have invested in their favor and hyped up probiotics as a "panacea", which has attracted many consumers to buy. Probiotics are a general term for live bacteria that are beneficial to the intestines. Are probiotics really as magical as advertised?
1. Do you want to supplement with probiotics
Many people want to improve gastrointestinal health by supplementing with probiotics. In practical clinical applications, probiotics are also commonly used in the adjuvant treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. Doctors also use probiotics when infants and young children use antibiotics or to treat diarrhea and constipation.
However, newly released clinical guidelines from the American Gastroenterology Association state that there is insufficient evidence to support the use of probiotics for most digestive disorders. This is the first clinical guideline for the use of probiotics in a variety of gastrointestinal disorders, published in gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterology Association.
The effects of probiotics on health are strain-specific and individually differentiated, and there is no such thing as a "one-size-fits-all" probiotic strain suitable for improvement in the health of all people.
Studies have found that different types of probiotics have large genomic differences, even between different strains of the same probiotic. The colonization of the same strain of probiotics in the intestines of different individuals is also different.
Whether probiotic strains can colonize the human intestine depends largely on the composition and structure of the bacteria inherent in the individual's intestines.
Therefore, consumers should try to follow the advice of professional doctors, rationally choose probiotic products, and do not blindly buy.
2. How probiotics differ from prebiotics
Probiotics and prebiotics, although only a word difference, are two very different substances. Prebiotics are substances that selectively promote the growth and reproduction of one or more beneficial bacteria in the intestine, but cannot be digested and absorbed by the intestine.
Remind everyone that while paying attention to probiotics, do not ignore the important role of prebiotics. You know, without enough prebiotics, probiotics will die. Prebiotics are nutrients that support the survival of probiotics, and only when there are sufficient prebiotics in the intestine, probiotics can multiply in large quantities and thus maintain intestinal health.
There are many types of probiotics and prebiotics on the market today. Probiotics mostly contain lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria. Common prebiotics are divided into two types: first, functional oligosaccharides, such as fructooligosaccharides, xylosaccharides, galactoligosaccharides, isomalto-oligosaccharides, soybean oligosaccharides, pine oligosaccharides, milky fructo-oligosaccharides, etc.; second, dietary fiber, such as inulin, water-soluble dietary fiber, polydextrose, etc. Among them, fructooligosaccharides, xylosaccharides, inulin and water-soluble dietary fiber are often added prebiotics in probiotic products.
3. How to choose probiotics and how to supplement
For the purchase of probiotic products, there are two suggestions:
First, it is best to choose a compound probiotic product, that is, a combination of probiotics and prebiotics. For example, the addition of fructooligosaccharides to Bifidobacteria can increase the supplemented Bifidobacterium by 10 to 100 times, which is much stronger than the effect of a single supplement of probiotics.
The second is to choose a product that contains two or more probiotics. Studies have shown that the combined efficacy of multiple probiotics is greater than that of one probiotic.
For lactic acid bacteria beverages, consumers should pay attention to distinguishing between product types when purchasing. China's relevant standards stipulate that the label of lactic acid bacteria beverage products should be marked with live bacteria (non-sterilization) type or non-live bacteria (sterilization) type, which can be distinguished by label labeling when purchasing. Live lactic acid bacteria beverages are separated from the cold chain during storage and transportation, which will lead to a decrease in the number of live bacteria of lactic acid bacteria and affect the taste. Consumers should drink it in time after purchase or refrigerate it as soon as possible.
The same is true of yogurt, which should be reasonably stored according to the label after purchase to ensure the viability of the strains in it.
4. "Eating fungi" is not as good as "raising bacteria"
There are two ways to increase the beneficial bacteria in the intestine: one is to directly ingest probiotics or foods made of probiotics (such as kimchi, tempeh, etc.); the other is to eat foods that beneficial bacteria like to eat to help it survive and live well.
The biggest problem with supplementing probiotics is that the stomach is a strongly acidic environment, probiotics have poor acid resistance, the probability of survival after entering the human body is very low, and there are very few people who can successfully reach the intestine. Moreover, probiotic strains are not stable and are prone to death at room temperature.
From the time probiotic products are produced to be purchased by consumers, a large number of bacteria have actually died in the process. The number of probiotics may fall from 100,000 to 10,000, or even less. Therefore, instead of ingesting foreign probiotics, it is better to proliferate the beneficial bacteria in the body. In other words, "eating fungi" is not as good as "raising bacteria".
Supplementing with prebiotics is the best way to "raise bacteria". We can get enough prebiotics from our diet. As long as you eat more vegetables, fruits, soybean products, whole grains and other foods every day, and consume 30 to 40 grams of dietary fiber, you can "feed" the probiotics in the body. Of course, if you prefer meat, do not like to eat vegetables, fruits, coarse grains, etc., or can not enjoy fresh vegetables and fruits during travel, business trips, then it is best to add prebiotics to the probiotics you eat, so as to ensure that the probiotics survive in your intestines.
Text: Zhang Zhaofeng, Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Peking University
Source: Health Newspaper