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Introducing Prebiotics XOS and GOS
One of my oldest friends called me from the hospital where she had been taken on emergency for a bleeding ulcer. She required 2 blood transfusions and narrowly avoided an operation. She felt extremely weak and was thoroughly shocked. She’d always been so healthy; what could have gone wrong?
Well, she had done a 30 day “cleanse” using a group of products from a network marketing company that restricts your diet to their highly processed, high protein shakes and bars. When I read the ingredients of this company’s products, it was no surprise to me that the community of bacteria, also called the microbiome, in her gut had become so unbalanced. The diet deprived her friendly gut microbes of what they need to thrive while it allowed a bacteria called H. pylori, which can be present in our gut without causing harm, to go out-of-control. Without enough good probiotics to keep the peace, an overgrowth of H. pylori will attack the stomach lining and the small intestines. The result causes ulcers.
My first thought was to overnight her all 3 packages of Teeccino’s newest wellness blends, my Prebiotic SuperBoost Herbal Coffee & Teas, so she could add a couple of daily cups of Teeccino to her healing regime. After years of studying prebiotics and watching the science about them evolve, my excitement triggered by studies about their effects on gut health convinced me that it was the time to create some new Teeccino blends with enhanced prebiotic effects.
So many people now have problematic digestion. Like my friend, many of us have restricted our diets and inadvertently affected our gut health. We may also have taken antibiotics which can unbalance our microbiome and reduce the population of the probiotics we need most. Daily stress, exposure to chemicals in our food, air and water as well as prescription drugs can all disturb the balance and reduce the variety of microbiota in our microbiome.
The two prebiotic concentrates I have blended together to make Prebiotic SuperBoost, XOS and GOS, have been studied intensively for their effect on various species of probiotics as well as the overgrowth of both pathogens and other bad organisms that can inhabit our gut. Rebalancing our gut microbiota by supporting our probiotics with prebiotics can have the following beneficial health benefits.
The importance of Bifidobacteria in the gut
Our digestion breaks down plant fibers to pass undigested from our small intestines to our large intestines. Some of these fibers are classified as prebiotics because once they reach the colon, they are fermented by our probiotics. Oligosaccharides are one type of these prebiotic soluble fibers and both XOS and GOS are types of oligosaccharides. Both have been shown to increase the population of our Bifidobacteria in dosages of 1g a day. The fermentation of XOS and GOS produces beneficial Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs). Butyrate is the primary SCFA produced by Bifidobacteria that has multiple functions in our health.
Here’s what so important about Bifidobacteria and butyrate:
1. Helps Prevent Leaky Gut Syndrome
Butyrate is necessary to keep our colonocytes, which are the type of cells that line our intestines, in good health. Unlike other cells, colonocytes don’t use glucose for nutrition but they thrive on butyrate.
Unfortunately, when our microbiota don’t have enough to eat, they start to digest the mucus lining that protects the interior of our bodies from the food we digest. Leaky Gut Syndrome has become a recognized condition involving cracks or holes in our gut lining that can allow partially digested food, toxins and bacteria to enter our bodies causing inflammation, allergies, and perhaps auto-immune conditions.
With happy Bifidobacteria producing lots of butyrate, your gut lining is strengthened and the links between the colonocytes are tight which prevents your gut from leaking. Our intestines should allow vitamins and minerals to pass through the gut lining and enter the bloodstream, but toxins and food compounds should be kept in the gut. A healthy gut is where optimal health begins!
2. Helps Reduce Inflammation
Healthy colonocytes munching away on butyrate not only keep our gut lining in top shape but they also reduce inflammation. They create an oxygen-free, slightly acidic atmosphere, which is what the Bifidobacteria need to thrive. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement!
High butyrate levels influence the production of glutathione, a very important antioxidant that fights free radicals. Since the colon stores our waste products including toxins the body is excreting, it is at risk for various inflammatory bowel conditions. Having more glutathione helps keep inflammation in check and enhances our immune system.
Butyrate has also been shown to increase the activity of certain immune cells called regulatory T cells. They help keep the immune system from being too hyper-active and overreacting.
Low dietary fiber intake is a risk factor for colon cancer. This may be due to insufficient levels of butyrate since it’s likely the population of bifidobacteria would be low without its favorite prebiotics in plentiful supply. Butyrate has been shown to inhibit an enzyme that is produced by cancerous cell. Butyrate assists the process of apoptosis, or cell death, that stops cancer from developing. Eating a high fiber, plant-based diet with plenty of prebiotics to fuel the bifidobacteria to produce butyrate is super important for keeping your colon healthy.
3. Helps Keep Blood Sugar Balanced
There is exciting research going on now to explore which probiotic species are associated with healthy weight versus those that are more prevalent in obesity. Although most of the weight control studies have been done on animals, in humans it has been found that bifidobacteria species are more abundant in the microbiome of people with healthy weight while other species are more abundant in pre-diabetic and obese people. It may even be possible that the wrong ratio of microbes in our gut can trigger increased desire for sweets and refined carbohydrates. Now we know who we can blame for those cravings!
Butyrate has been found to increase the production of 2 gut hormones that help regulate insulin production and the uptake of glucose by our muscles and fatty tissue for energy. When our cells are receptive to taking in more glucose, we can receive the nutrients that are present in our blood, thus making the best use of the food we eat.
Ever evolving microbiome science
Science keeps evolving our understanding of the role of the microbiome and its over 1,000 species to our health. More human studies are being conducted to test if the results indicated by animal studies will hold true in humans. For instance, there are animal studies showing consuming prebiotics can result in improvement in learning, cognition and long term memory as well as new neuron growth in the brain, stress reduction and mood enhancement. All these effects are waiting for human studies to confirm.
In the meantime, high protein, high fat and low carbohydrate diets that induce ketosis, like the one my friend went on, can disrupt the balance in your microbiome. Even if you’re not on one of those diets, prebiotic concentrates like XOS and GOS will increase the population of your bifidobacteria bringing their beneficial effects to your health with higher butyrate levels. By drinking two or more cups a day of Teeccino Prebiotic SuperBoost blends, you’ll take in 1-2 grams of concentrated prebiotics as deliciously as possible!
