By now, we all are aware of prebiotics and probiotics and how important they are for a healthy digestive system and the overall body. However, you may not have heard of postbiotics. While postbiotics aren’t a recent find and have been around since probiotics were first discovered, people have only started using them and realizing their benefits. 

What Are Postbiotics?

Postbiotics are a waste of the production of lactic acid that probiotics perform in the digestive system. Essentially, probiotics produce postbiotics as they feed on prebiotics. Yes, you got that right; it is basically probiotic excrement!

This discovery dates back nearly a century when Dr. Pierre Boucard, a French scientist, discovered the postbiotic bacteria called Lactobacillus acidophilus in human feces. This postbiotic had significant anti-diarrhea properties.

A laboratory was later established to bring the discovery to the market. The L. Acidophilus was heat-treated in the laboratory and was transformed into a tablet that was a concentration of only the bacteria.

Benefits Of Postbiotics

It is only natural for us to believe that waste is of no-good use, but the postbiotic provides the gut with several health benefits. Common forms of postbiotics include carbonic substances, organic acids, antimicrobials, and enzymes. They are produced naturally by microbes that live in our intestines, but they can also be directly added by medicinal practices. 

Postbiotics Treat Irregular Digestion

While we all know how effective probiotics are in the treatment of irregular digestion. Recent evidence reveals that the effectiveness was not due to healthy bacteria interacting with the intestine but due to the probiotic releasing metabolic substances. 

Postbiotics Prevent Obesity And Reduce Blood Sugar 

Obesity and blood sugar have been linked to an imbalance of intestinal microbes. Muramyl dipeptide is a postbiotic microbial subset that controls blood sugar by increasing insulin sensitivity and helps relieve hyperglycemia. Although more research is needed to completely study the processes, it appears that this postbiotic is effective in the fight against type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes. 

It Has Antibacterial Properties 

Probiotics and postbiotics both have a key function, and that is to promote the growth of healthy bacteria in the stomach while limiting the growth of harmful bacteria. Postbiotics have the added benefit of antibacterial properties that help fight against them, therefore, keeping stomach infections at bay.

It Backs Probiotics 

Postbiotics and probiotics complement each other to improve overall health. Postbiotics have immunostimulatory properties that are good for the body and help it fight infections, cancer, and other diseases.

Postbiotics Are Ideal For Infants And People With Compromised Immune Systems

Infants and people with immunosuppression can’t intake probiotics as it may be unsafe for them. Postbiotics are easily digested and absorbed into the system and may even help alleviate inflammation. 

Final Notes

The benefits and cures that postbiotics can offer have only started to come up. There is still a lot of research left to do, and further health benefits and treatments with postbiotics will become known. So far, it certainly seems like postbiotics will be the future of gut health.