What is prebiotic GOS &FOS?
Everybody is waking up to the nutritional and health benefits of prebiotics. Researchers are underscoring the importance of prebiotics in baby’s diet for the beneficial effects they have on their immunity and overall health.
What are Prebiotics?
Prebiotics are non-digestible dietary carbohydrates that travel to the colon intact and are able to selectively stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial bacteria. The beneficial bacteria enhance our gut health. This boosts our immune system, while reducing health problems to a great extent.
There is a strong correlation between the immune system and the health of gastrointestinal tract, as about 70%-80% of all immune cells are present in the gut. When prebiotics are consumed at an early stage, they create conditions in the gut that are optimum to train the immune system.
Breast milk: Best source of prebiotics
Breast milk is the optimal source of nutritionfor new-borns. Breast milk also is rich in many immune cells and other bioactive compounds such as Oligosaccharides. These oligosaccharides are said to have a ’prebiotic’ effect. This means they act as food for the good bacteria in the gut, helping them grow and also reduce the bad bacteria count. Apart from this, prebiotic oligosaccharides helps strengthens the mucosal lining of the gut. This helps in preventing future infections and instances of diarrhoea or general sickness. Thus prebiotics play a vital role in nurturing and developing of the baby’s gut bacteria.
A specific combination of prebiotic GOS/FOS in the ratio of 9:1 has been studied most extensively and is believed to have various health benefits like:
- Reduced skin allergies
- The increase in good gut bacteria and drastic decrease in potentially harmful bacteria
- Improved gut health
- Reduced infections
- Softer stools and improved stool frequency and consistency
Prebiotics are crucial for your baby to develop a healthy gut and boost their immune system and breast milk is the best source for it.
