Hello, and welcome back to Ask a Nutritionist, our weekly Dishing Up Nutrition

episode where we tackle a topic asked by our listeners. I'm Alyssa, Richard

Iitian, here with nutritional weight malice.

Today we will discuss a topic we frequently get questions about. This listener asked,

can you explain the difference between prebiotics and probiotics? How do they help me and how do I

know if I may benefit from supplementing with one or both? Let's dive it.

First, let's talk a bit about the gut microbiome, then prebiotics and probiotics. Your gut microbiome

is the community of microbes living in your GI tract. It's like a flourishing garden. You are the host to trillions of

microorganisms living inside you. Both you and the microorganisms benefit from the relationship.

You provide them with housing and food. And in return, these good bacteria interact with many of your body's systems

and assist with a variety of bodily functions like digestion and your immune system. When your

garden is flourishing, you are thriving. However, if your garden's soil becomes depleted, maybe polluted, or full of weeds and pests that start invading and taking over all this space of those helpful plants, those good microorganisms, you have an unhealthy garden.

Gut dysbiosis is when the garden of microbes in the gut is out of balance, and harmful microorganisms outnumber the helpful ones. It can contribute to a variety of

chronic digestive challenges, like frequent constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and heart rate. Prebiotics and probiotics can come

into play to help support and, if needed, improve the state of our gut microbiome. Prebiotics are a sort of

undigestible carbohydrate fiber that feeds the good bacteria in your gut.

When you eat foods with prebiotics, the fiber travels through your digestive track

and reaches the bacteria in the large intestine.

The good bacteria then eat the prebiotic fibers.

They ferment and break them down. And as the food source for the good bacteria, those prebiotics stimulate and help those bacteria flourish in the garden. These prebiotics act as fertilizer.

While prebiotics are a type of fiber, not all fiber is prebiotic. So dietary fibers consider to have a prebiotic effect feeding these gut bacteria include resistant starches, inululine, fructoagliococirides, and glacoagloaccharides.

Some foods that contain resistant starches include cooked and cooled potatoes or cooked and cooled oats

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