Pepsi Prebiotic Soda
Category : Blog , Nutrition , Yogurt- Homemade
I was grocery shopping and saw an advertisement for a cola with a prebiotic label on it. I looked at the ingredients, and it had soluble corn fiber as the source for the prebiotic. It got me thinking about some of the information and marketing that we see while shopping.
I want to talk about what is a prebiotic? What is a good source of prebiotics, and why do we need a good source of prebiotics?
So first, what is a prebiotic? Prebiotics are non-digestible fibers that nourish beneficial gut bacteria, helping improve digestion, support immune function, and promote the production of short-chain fatty acids that benefit colon health and metabolism. So, in simple words, it is food that the gut bacteria feed on.
Second, what is a good source of prebiotics? Let’s look at the different types of prebiotics. The first and best is inulin. Inulin is found in onions, garlic, and asparagus. Another prebiotic is fructooligosaccharides (FOS). The types of foods high in this prebiotic are slightly green bananas, garlic, onions, and asparagus. Galactooligosaccharides (GOS) are one of the most well-researched prebiotics and are especially effective at selectively feeding beneficial microbes with minimal digestive discomfort. Good sources of this prebiotic are lentils, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, soybeans, cashews, and pistachios.
The soluble corn fiber, which was in the “prebiotic cola”, provides a gentler, more moderate effect and is often included in processed foods, making it useful but not as impactful as these more powerful, naturally derived prebiotic fibers.
The answer to why we need a good source of prebiotics is because that is the food that stimulates the growth of beneficial bacteria in our digestive tract (gut). If we have healthy bacteria in our digestive tract, then that will support slower, steadier fermentation and add additional metabolic benefits like improved insulin sensitivity. It also helps maintain the lining of our digestive tract so that we don’t have permeability in the lining that will lead to leaky gut, which will cause inflammation throughout the body.
One of the most important aspects of the gut biome, or bacteria in our digestive tract, is the type of bacteria we have in the different sections of our tract. When we have bacteria that is normally found in the large intestine migrates into the small intestine, it is called Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO). This may be due to our diet or antibiotic use, and it disrupts the ecosystem in our intestines, and will lead to many symptoms and health issues. Prebiotics tend to bypass the bacteria in the small intestine and are used by the bacteria in the large intestine. So even if we are eating from a good source of prebiotics, we can still have issues since we have the wrong bacteria in the wrong location in the digestive tract. We first must fix the problem and then feed the beneficial bacteria the right prebiotic.
One way to fix SIBO is to eat the right yogurt that promotes the growth of the beneficial bacteria in the small intestines and inhibits the growth of the wrong bacteria in the small intestines. I have written about this problem and solution before, and it can be found in the blog section of collardchiropractic.com titled “Discover the Power of Homemade Probiotic Yogurt”.
My final take on the prebiotic cola is that it is a poor source of prebiotics, and if you don’t have the proper bacteria in the small intestine, then you won’t get much benefit from the drink. It is a weak marketing gimmick that might trick us into thinking that drinking the prebiotic cola is good for our health.
