Surely everyone has heard about probiotics and prebiotics, the application of which becomes today not only popular, but also partly fashionable. Everyone knows that they are very useful for health, but far from everyone knows what the prebiotics differ from probiotics, and that in general they are of themselves.
The difference between prebiotics and probiotics
Probiotics are living microorganisms that are normal to the intestines of a healthy person. Basically, these are bacteria (lactobacilli, bifidobacteria , etc.), but yeast fungi also belong to them.
A normal human microflora is represented by a large number of microorganisms that break down substances coming from food, thereby facilitating their assimilation. In cases where the death of beneficial microorganisms (which can be caused by prolonged diarrhea, antibiotics, etc.), dysbacteriosis develops. With this pathology, the process of digestion of food is disrupted, there is an excessive growth of pathogenic microflora in the intestine, and the protective properties of the organism are weakened. All this can lead to the development of quite serious diseases of the body. As an effective tool for the treatment of dysbacteriosis, as a rule, prescribe probiotics.
Probiotics enter the large intestine, not digested in the stomach and not digested in the upper intestine. It is in the large intestine that they begin to function, displacing the pathogenic putrefactive microflora from it. However, in order for beneficial microorganisms to develop normally, they need to create favorable conditions for them. Just for this, there are prebiotics, prescribed in combination with probiotics.
The difference between prebiotics and probiotics is that they are not microbial preparations, but food components that are not digested in the upper parts of the digestive tract, but are split in the large intestine and serve as a nutrient medium for the beneficial microflora. Prebiotics include lactose, lactulose, polysaccharides, dietary fiber, inulin, oligosaccharides, etc.
Preparations containing probiotics and prebiotics
Probiotics are in any "live" sour-milk product, while the production of which has been preserved useful microorganisms.
Prebiotics are found in large quantities in dairy products, corn flakes, cereals, onions, garlic, beans, chicory, peas, bananas and many other products.
Preparations containing probiotics can be dry and liquid. Dry probiotics (in the form of powder, capsules, tablets) are microorganisms, dried in a special way. This, for example, means such as Acilact, Bifiliz, Linex, Lactobacterin dry, Probiophore, etc.
Liquid probiotics contain microorganisms in the original, physiologically active state. These are such drugs as:
- Biovestin;
- Biovestin-lacto;
- Bifidumbacterin;
- Lactobacterin;
- Trilact and others.
Prebiotic complexes are produced in the form of dietary supplements that are not medicines. These include:
- Lactusan;
- Lactofiltrum;
- Prelax;
- Eubikor and others.
What is synbiotics?
Because the action of probiotics is most effective in the presence of a sufficient number of prebiotics, it is advisable to use them together for therapeutic purposes. For convenience, they began to produce special complexes - synbiotics, containing both probiotics and prebiotics, which exert a mutually reinforcing positive effect in the human body. Among the synbiotics known drugs such as:
- Biovestin-lacto;
- Maltidophilus;
- Bifido tank and so on.