To Boost Immunity and Energy - These 3 Are Critical…

‘I have a gut feeling about…’ How many times have we heard that expression? Well, it turns out that gut feelings have not only to do with our perceptions but they have a lot to do with our health and immunity.

Your gut harbours 70% to 80% of your immune system. And like our world and planet our gut likes to opt for diversity. Diversity in bacteria that is, diversity of the bacteria that live within our gut.

But hold on you say, bacteria, is that all that is diverse within our gut? Well, yes and no, although the bacteria is rather diverse, we also have other microorganisms like yeast, fungi and archaea. It's quite a diverse environment down there in the gut. And the more diversity invited to the party down there through our nutrition, the better.

Well okay you say, now I know about prebiotics, that they are essentially non digestible food particles that help beneficial bacteria flourish in the gut. A prebitoic is a type of fibre but not all fibre is prebiotic. For a fibre to qualify as prebiotic it has to pass through the GI tract undigested and then must stimulate the growth of the good bacteria within the large intestine.

We all know about probiotics and why eating fermented foods and yoghurt are healthy for us, these are beneficial microorganisms that comprise bacetria and yeasts. They keep our microbiome healthy. But now there are ‘new kids on the block,’ and these are called postbiotics. What are postbiotics? Why do they matter?

Postbiotics are compounds that are produced by the microorganisms in our gut.

Postbiotics are active compounds, and they have profound health effects on us, in a good way. The challenge is that even if we have a good intake of prebiotics and probiotics, many of us do not produce enough postbiotics because we do not have the correct microbiome.

Our microbiome is the environment that hosts our microorganisms, so it’s like making sure that this world within our gut is microorganism friendly.

It’s great to invite prebiotics and probiotics to the party, but the party venue itself needs to be friendly for the best health outcome, this is where postbiotics come in. Postbiotics are the bioactive compounds that are produced by the probiotic bacteria, when they consume the prebiotics.

So we have this interplay between creating the correct environment in our gut microbiome, through prebiotics which feed the probiotic bacteria, but the postbiotic results are reliant on and contribute toward the environment on which they rely to have a positive effect on our health.

It’s a little like gargling with peanut butter, with each of these ‘biotics’ being contingent and giving effect to an environment that allows them to increase our health.

Postbiotics link to energy

One of the most important postbiotics for energy production is a compound that works to support the mitochondria. We all know that the mitochondria within our cells are the energy store houses and energy generators.

Over time, these energy generators can become ‘rusty’. A specific postbiotic helps with leg and arm muscle endurance, and energy production from mitochondria in older adults. Now this postbiotic is prevalent in foods like nuts, berries and pomegranate juice, so keep those as part of your diet if you are feeling low on energy, (as long as you have no allergies to any of them of course.)

Other postbiotics which are the compounds released from the intake of fibre in our diets are being studied to help with inflammatory bowel disease and digestive tract cancers, These act to renew our digestive tract and regulate immune function, these particular postbiotics are called Short-Chain Fatty Acids. Butyrate being one of the most important for immune function.

Then there are posbitotics, called betaglucans, which are compounds associated with eating oats and barley. These are effective at enhancing the immune system by strengthening immune action through antimicrobial activity in the gut.

So, postbiotics are compounds that have a profound effect on our health that you never heard about, they are showing themselves, as a measure of health, to be just as, and if not more important than prebiotics and probiotics, but we need the prebiotics and probiotics to create the correct postbiotic environment.

Logic would suggest that analysis of the postbiotic condition of our microbiomes should then direct the inputs of probiotics and prebiotics, we consume.

I predict that going forward as we understand this more, there will be specific prebiotic and probiotic compound cocktails prescribed to secure health for each individual. Tailor-made recipes of microorganisms, depending on the microbiome condition.

My prediction is to watch this postbiotics space, there is a lot more to discover..

Let me know your thoughts?