What Are the Potential Benefits of Taking In Probiotics and Prebiotics?
In the broadest sense, probiotics are beneficial bacteria, says M. Andrea Azcarate-Peril, PhD, a microbiologist and professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, where she runs the Microbiome Core facility.
That means that these can help your body if you ingest them in recommended amounts through food or, in some cases, supplements, according to experts.
“Probiotics help the ecosystem of your gut by balancing gut bacteria and supporting the growth of beneficial microbes,” says King.
Prebiotics may also support a healthier gut, rebalancing gut bacteria linked to certain diseases.
When probiotics and prebiotics work together, they produce fatty acids that help strengthen your intestinal walls, says King. That helps prevent harmful substances from entering your body.
Here are the potential benefits of both probiotics and prebiotics, according to recent research:
May Support Gut Health Prebiotics may support a healthier gut microbiome by “feeding” healthy bacteria and producing short-chain fatty acids, potentially helping to manage obesity, gut inflammation, immunity, and mental health.
Researchers are exploring both probiotics and prebiotics as potential and promising tools to help rebalance gut bacteria linked to diseases like food allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, liver disease, heart disease, and colon cancer.
May Help Manage Certain Chronic Conditions One review from Italy, which assessed research on the health effects of prebiotics, found evidence that prebiotics play a role in improving symptoms or quality of life in people with certain conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), osteoporosis, diabetes, and anxiety.
Probiotics may help improve blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes, although more research is needed to figure out which strains, doses, and treatment lengths work best.
In children with autism, probiotics have been found to improve both behavioral symptoms (like social withdrawal and hyperactivity) and gastrointestinal issues (like diarrhea and constipation) without side effects.
May Soothe Skin Concerns Probiotics may help suppress and improve skin conditions by decreasing oxidative stress, lowering inflammatory responses, and supporting immunity through their regulation of skin health and the gut-skin connection.
May Boost Mood Probiotics may also support emotional well-being and lower negative moods, particularly in people with high stress or risk factors, after just two weeks of use.