Probiotics and fiber play a critical role in digestion to help keep you regular and avoid stomach pain and gastrointestinal issues. You can find dietary fiber in plant-based foods, and there are specialized fiber types called prebiotics that are a viable food source for the bacteria in your gut.
Probiotics are beneficial, and live bacteria are found in foods like Thrive Ice Cream and dietary supplements. Probiotics and fiber can combine to support healthy gut bacteria, which is essential for your overall health.
So, while it’s good to have probiotics and fiber, is it also a good idea to take them simultaneously? We’ll give you all of the answers you need below.
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Do Probiotics and Fiber Support Each Other?
The correct amount of fiber in your diet links to improved digestive health, and high-fiber diets can prevent or relieve constipation. However, estimates say that around 95% of Americans don’t get the ideal amount of fiber in their diets each day.
You can break dietary fiber into insoluble and soluble categories, which is critical for digestive health. Soluble fiber can dissolve in water to turn into a gel, and it helps soften your stool. It can slow down nutrient absorption, too. Insoluble fiber makes it easier to pass stool, and most foods give you a mix of both. Common fiber types include the following:
- Insoluble – Lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose are found in whole grains and vegetables.
- Soluble – Gums, pectin, and mucilages. You get pectin from vegetables and fruits, but mucilages and gums are found in processed foods as extracts.
Prebiotics also fall into the soluble fiber category, and you pass them through your upper GI tract undigested to feed good bacteria in your colon. They work in tandem with probiotics. Probiotic supplements bring good, live bacteria to your digestive tract, while prebiotics feed them.
Are you looking for a fast and sweet way to add wholesome fiber and probiotics to your diet? Thrive Ice Cream packs nine grams of Protein, 6 grams of prebiotic fiber, and over 24 vitamins and minerals per serving to enhance your gut health!
Why Combine Probiotics with Fiber?
Now that you know fiber and probiotics suit your overall well-being and digestive health, why combine them?
Probiotics’ Role
Probiotics protect your GI tract against harmful bacteria, improve digestion, and reduce constipation and diarrhea. Sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, kombucha, and kimchi are decent sources of probiotics, but they may not have enough bacteria to benefit your body. However, taking a targeted probiotic supplement is one good way to boost your daily intake.
Fibers’ Role
Having enough fiber daily is critical for your overall digestive health because it ensures your digestive tract stays moving and helps prevent constipation. Eating more whole plant foods with high fiber content, like fruits, whole grains, vegetables, nuts, legumes, seeds, and Thrive Gelato will give you both insoluble and soluble fiber.
Combining Fiber with Probiotics in Your Diet
When you add fiber and probiotic supplements to your diet, taking them separately is usually recommended. This is because some of the probiotics’ beneficial bacteria can stick to the fiber, and you’ll excrete it without absorbing it.
Prebiotic fibers increase the numbers and activity level of good bacteria in your stomach, improving probiotics’ effects. However, if you take them simultaneously, they may cause unwanted symptoms like abdominal pain and bloating.
The exception is synbiotics, a blend of prebiotics and probiotics; you take them together to get the most benefits. They can increase your beneficial bacteria to help improve your gut health.
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Should You Take Prebiotics or Other Fiber Types?
All prebiotics are classified as fibers, but not every fiber is a prebiotic. Humans have always had prebiotics, but the health benefits are just being understood. GOS, FOS, Inulin, and resistant starches are all prebiotics; you can find them in garlic, onions, chicory, and barley.
Prebiotics also increase your body’s production of short-chain fatty acids, which can help solidify your gut barrier, suppress harmful bacteria, and encourage good bacteria growth. Fatty acids aid fluid absorption and bowel movements.
Fiber vs. Probiotics for Constipation
Fiber helps stools get bigger and softer, which makes it easier to move through the digestive tract. It’s like a broom that cleans out the bowels. Good bacteria called probiotics can improve the health of your gut, and some strains can help with constipation in particular. Getting more fiber can help if you’re constipated, but adding a probiotic might also be good for your gut health in the long run.
Fiber vs. Probiotics for Diarrhea
Fiber can help with diarrhea by soaking up extra water in the intestines and making loose stools more solid. While probiotics can help keep gut bacteria in balance, they are most useful for people who have diarrhea because of an imbalance or after taking antibiotics. Fiber might help with sudden diarrhea faster, but probiotics might help restore balance for problems that keep happening.
Fiber vs. Probiotics for Optimized Digestion
Fiber and probiotics are both essential for digestive health as a whole. Fiber keeps your bowel movements regular and feeds good bacteria. Probiotics help keep the bacteria levels in your gut healthy. Fiber is like food for your gut, and probiotics are like the friendly people who live there. They work together to make sure your digestive system works well.
Anyone needing to increase their calorie and fiber intake should consider Thrive Ice Cream. Not only does it offer a smooth texture with a burst of flavor, but it comes with protein and dietary fiber to improve digestive health.
Probiotics and Fiber – A Winning Combination
If you have painful digestive symptoms like diarrhea, gas, bloating, or constipation that won’t go away, you need to see a doctor right away. Getting more fiber and prebiotics can help many common digestive problems by keeping your digestive tract regular and feeding good bacteria in your gut.
Using probiotics correctly can help balance your microbiome and improve your digestive health, which can help with several digestive problems. Synbiotics are an easy way to boost the health benefits of probiotics.
Thrive Ice Cream offers two great ways to increase fiber and probiotic intake. You get six grams of fiber per serving, including natural prebiotic fiber with live probiotic cultures with natural ingredients. Add them to your diet to improve your gut and immune health and overall well-being.