Prebiotics
Japanese: プレバイオティクス
Non-digestible food ingredients that selectively stimulate the growth or activity of beneficial microorganisms in the gut. Oligosaccharides and dietary fiber are representative examples.
Prebiotics are food ingredients that serve as nourishment for beneficial gut bacteria. Representative examples include non-digestible carbohydrates like oligosaccharides and inulin, as well as dietary fiber.
Since human digestive enzymes cannot break them down, they pass through the small intestine and reach the large intestine intact. There, Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria consume them, producing beneficial substances like short-chain fatty acids.
If probiotics are the microbes themselves, prebiotics are the food that nurtures them. The concept of combining both is called synbiotics.