Prebiotic and Probiotic Comparison: Which Should You Choose?

Probiotic comparison with prebiotic has generated a lot of interesting results and opinions. What has been obvious in most of these comparisons is that both offer advantages to human health. There are differences however, and this report will break down some of them.
Effects on the digestive system
Both probiotics and prebiotics provide a lot of benefits to the digestive system. Probiotics are living microorganisms that are manufactured to increase the level of good bacteria in the gut, while prebiotics are food ingredients that serve as food to the good bacteria naturally present in the stomach.
They both play important roles in preventing disease-causing bad bacteria from multiplying in the gut which can lead to diarrhea, constipation, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome and other problems that are caused by an imbalanced digestive system. Since a well-balanced and healthy digestive system is important to keep the whole body healthy, it can be safely said that these two are highly beneficial to humans.
Prebiotic-probiotic comparison
In terms of which is more effective, there have been a number of studies asserting that probiotics may not even be necessary, given that their functions are already performed by the good bacteria inherently found in the gut. Prebiotics, on the other hand, are needed to feed these good bacteria and to stimulate their growth and activity.
A study from the School of Food Biosciences of the University of Reading in England provided some support as to the advantages of prebiotics. In the study, a group was given prebiotic diet, while another was given a probiotic diet. Their fecal matter were examined daily and after a week, those in the prebiotic group showed an increase in good bacteria population, while the probiotic group showed little change after a week.
However, those involved in the study did say that probiotics do have beneficial effects, although it may take a longer period of time to see these effects. The level of effects of probiotics is still not something that can be easily quantified, other studies have stated. Some experts have also claimed that most of the time, the impact of probiotics is negligible or not enough to make much difference.
This may be partly due to the fact that probiotics are susceptible to heat, cold, time and even stomach acid. These live microorganisms are said to degenerate or end up becoming completely destroyed when exposed to manufacturing processes, time, stomach acid, heat, cold and other outside forces.
Despite this weakness, probiotics are believed to be beneficial to the digestive system and the overall health of humans. However, probiotic comparison with prebiotics shows that the latter have more to offer and may be more important to human health.