People often turn to prebiotics and probiotics to support their gut health. Daily use of pre- and probiotics can help keep the gut healthy, help people avoid leaky gut syndrome, and maintain digestive balance. To explain why, we need to take a look at what probiotics are and how they work in the body.
What Are Prebiotics & Probiotics, and What Do They Do?
Probiotics are found in all living animals. Simply put, probiotics are helpful bacteria that reside in your digestive tract and help support normal and healthy digestive processes and gut function. Prebiotics are the specific fibers that feed and support your healthy bacteria and help them thrive within your digestive tract.
Here this microflora helps our bodies to break down food into essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Your body then absorbs these nutrients to maintain your health and provide you with vital energy throughout the day. Simply put, probiotics help to balance your gut flora. Probiotics are also essential for keeping you regular, improving your immune system, and ensuring that you get the most out of every meal.
In nature, humans naturally restore the probiotics in their gut by eating probiotic-rich foods. Unfortunately, due to the modern-day demands, we don’t get as many probiotics as we’re supposed to.
Your healthcare practitioner may recommend taking a probiotic supplement if you’ve ever had antibiotics. Probiotics are also excellent for helping your gut flora stay balanced and healthy and avoid the development of functional changes due to system issues like leaky gut. This is because they support overall gut health in various ways.
Here are the four main ways probiotics can alleviate and assist your recovery from leaky gut syndrome.
1. Probiotics support your gut’s tight junctions
Tight junctions are the structural support system of your digestive tract, making sure your gut lining is strong and functional. They make sure the gut lining provides the barrier protection needed in the gut and supports healthy nutrient absorption, regularity, and immune response and protection.
In sharp contrast, if your digestive health is compromised and you have leaky gut syndrome, the junctions are loosened.
Damaged junctions can allow anything to pass into your bloodstream, including toxins. Probiotics, the beneficial microflora found in all living creatures, help maintain the health of the intestinal wall and integrity of junction sites. Similarly, prebiotics have been shown to have a beneficial effect on tight junctions.1
2. Probiotics minimize harmful bacteria and yeast
Healthcare practitioners recommend probiotics for various reasons. (That’s why you can find probiotic supplements such as dental probiotics or even probiotics for pets!)
The make-up of your gut microflora can be influenced by use of select probiotic strains that support diversity in your gut and help maintain healthy gut function and barrier control.
The microflora in your gut—also called your microbiome—play important role in digestive health processes that can influence your body's metabolic system and support your health. Imbalances in your microflora can contribute to the development of digestive discomfort and even the progression of compromised health states.
3. Probiotics help support the digestive system
Probiotics are also beneficial when it comes to digestion. Some probiotics produce exoenzymes, which help your body to break down tough proteins.
Probiotics help your body to absorb amino acids in the gut. While it’s a more indirect digestion method, it’s still an essential part of keeping your digestive health in check.
A leaky gut can make it difficult to break down food into essential nutrients, minerals, and vitamins. That’s why one of the symptoms of leaky gut is chronic fatigue—the much-needed digestive aid from probiotics is a sure-fire way to help gain the maximum nutrition and energy from your food.
4. Probiotics improve the health of the intestinal wall lining
Probiotics can help to improve the mucosal barrier of the gut,2 helping to reduce the harmful effects of leaky gut.
Probiotics have four powerful benefits to support those with leaky gut. The only question remains: Which probiotic is best for people with leaky gut syndrome? To find out, read part 3 of this series.
References:
1. Rose EC et al. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(13):6729.
2. Lamprecht M et al. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2012;9(1):45.