Many of our customers enjoy Living Goodness sauerkraut and kimchi products for more than just the taste. Yes, that sour tang adds a lovely bit of spice to your meal, but there’s also the nutritional benefits of fermented foods too.
The fermentation process encourages good bacteria growth, which is what helps you to fight off bad bacteria. According to Harvard Health, ingesting certain kinds of live bacteria (that’s the probiotic kind!) can help to treat and even prevent illnesses. Eating certain fermented foods can be an effective way to supply your diet with an influx of probiotics to ensure that the balance in your gut is more good than bad bacteria.
The 'pre' versus the 'pro'
So, now that we’ve covered probiotics, where do prebiotics come in? It’s another term that you may have heard floating around the topic of fermented foods and probiotics.
Consuming foods with live cultures introduces new probiotics into your gut. This changes the ratio of healthy versus harmful bacteria in a body.
Meanwhile, prebiotics have a different function. WebMD explains that prebiotics aren’t a living culture, and act as a ‘fertiliser’ for probiotics, encouraging growth of already existing good bacteria.
A few foods that are great sources of prebiotics are:
• Asparagus
• Jerusalem artichokes
• Bananas
• Oatmeal
• Legumes and beans
• Berries
• Garlic
• Leeks
• Onions
• Peas
• Chicory
As both pre- and probiotics aid your gut health differently, you won’t find many foods that contain both substances. However, our Living Goodness products contain a chicory extract, a prebiotic the probiotics favorite food a double whammy.
Healthline explains that, “eating balanced amounts of both pro and prebiotics can help ensure that you have the right balance of these bacteria, which should improve your health.”
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Sources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/vitamins-and-supplements/health-benefits-of-taking-probiotics
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/nutrition-vitamins-11/probiotics
http://www.healthline.com/nutrition/probiotics-and-prebiotics#section1http://www.healthline.com/nutrition/probiotics-and-prebiotics#section1