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Prebiotics: Feeding Your Friendly Flora Naturally
By Aftab J. Ahmed, Ph.D

http://www.fiberwater.com/_pdf/2%20...dly%20flora.pdf

Quote:

Of late one of the approaches to anticipate and even prevent dysbiosis has been to supplement nutrition with products called probiotics. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that are normally thought to inhabit the human intestine and the rationale of this remedy rests on the premise that ingestion of beneficial bacteria should maintain intestinal floral ecology. It is uncertain, however, whether live or attenuated bacteria can actually colonize the intestine. First it stands to reason that being live organisms, probiotics would not survive the rather harsh acidic environment in the stomach. Further, it has been argued that those organisms that do survive the stomach acid may have been sufficiently damaged, making it unlikely that they could possible colonize the intestine.

What natural remedy may then support the intestinal flora? A more effective natural approach must be available which allows the body to restore intestinal balance naturally as a matter of course. In traditional societies of the Old World it has been known for generations that dietary measures can do wonders for intestinal health. Thus a more reliable approach to restore intestinal ecology is to provide the food and energy source as a dietary aid to stimulate growth and multiplication of beneficial bacterial indigenous to the intestine. These dietary food and energy sources for the bacteria are called prebiotics. Prebiotics travel to the large intestine where they trigger the multiplication of beneficial bacteria already resident in the colon.

Dietary fiber is the most efficient food and energy source for the friendly bacteria native to the colon. Not all dietary fibers however, fit this bill. Specifically inulin is the most efficient food and energy source for the intestinal bacteria.