Probiotic Comparison with Prebiotics: Which Type Delivers the Best Results?

Aside from interchanging a vowel, the use of probiotics and prebiotics similarly lead to good digestive health through the help of good bacteria. A probiotic comparison with prebiotics reveals the same benefits as long as people regularly consume them.

However, the difference between these two types of health supplements, however, lie in the sustainability of the effects.

Everyone knows probiotics consist of bacterial strains especially cultured for good digestion and regularity.


Yet, few people understand that prebiotics bring longer lasting effects at a higher degree of potency than probiotics do.

Unlike live microorganisms, prebiotics naturally occur as nutrients in fresh fruits and vegetables. These nutrients, such as soluble fiber and fermentable carbohydrates, promote the natural growth of intestinal flora in bigger numbers and at a longer period.

Because they exist in bananas, berries, asparagus, tomatoes, onion, garlic, artichokes, and other foods rich in soluble fiber, the prebiotics called oligosaccharides remain intact as they travel through the stomach's acidity and into the intestines.

Instead of directly attacking the harmful bacteria, prebiotics strengthen the natural ability of the human digestive system to eliminate invading microorganisms.

In making a deeper probiotic comparison with prebiotics, we can see that the advantages of consuming prebiotics begins with their lack of sensitivity to heat, acidity, aeration, or expiration.

Unlike probiotics, which are live microorganisms that must remain alive to be effective, prebiotics are forms of dietary fiber that do not need special storage and handling requirements. In fact, consumers can source prebiotics easily from whole grain foods and green vegetables that only need a cool, dry place for storage.

A probiotic comparison with prebiotic ingestion reveals that food and beverages containing macrobiotic bacteria only carry certain species that produce singular effects on human health. To get the most number of health benefits, consumers have to mix and match specific strains of bacteria.

A hodgepodge actually produces little to no positive advantages, which include flatulence and the lack of resistance to other kinds of harmful bacteria. For example, a type of probiotic bacteria proved itself effective against hospital infection MRSA, but also boosted the growth of E. coli in the gut.

Furthermore, commercial products of probiotics reveal overloading of sugars, added flavors, carbohydrates, and fats that somehow reduce the potency of the lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. Shoppers should carefully select the products they buy.

A brief probiotic comparison with prebiotic drinks and food should easily reveal the true nutritional benefits of probiotics as opposed to prebiotic foods, which carry vitamins and other nutrients aside from dietary fibers.