We live in the age of food technologies. Everything we can buy undergoes a truly cutting-edge engineering process. Just think of the most common transformations to obtain products such as wine or beer. You don't really think that the wine we can drink today is the same that the Romans drank at the time of Caesar, right? Making a wine or a beer means taking the raw material, breaking it down, making it undergo chemical processes and procedures, adding them and then letting them rest. The same thing, in a different and perhaps unconscious way, was done millennia ago with the products available at the time. There lactic fermentation of a product like it yogurt has found use since ancient times.
Let's focus on the products that are the most popular today, yogurt and kefir, which fall under the denomination of "fermented milks". THE fermented milks they are products derived from milk that have special properties, linked to the existence of a specific and active microflora and to the presence of substances resulting from the metabolism of these microorganisms. Nowadays we also focus on the value nutritional that the food has. We are very careful with calorie intake, the amount of fat and protein, as well as the "terrible" carbohydrates. In this respect, yogurt defends itself very well, being able to boast an excellent balance of all macronutrients. But beyond this, certified and published studies demonstrate how the daily use of yogurt or kefir improves the lipid profile of the subject, especially with the use of soy-based vegetable yoghurt, for example, improve the quality of life and prolong it. Furthermore, it has a much better impact than any other food on the intestinal microbiota level, i.e. the bacterial population that fortunately dwells in our intestines.
A healthy microbiota is our immune system's best ally
Having a healthy microbiota also means making ours work well too immune system, thanks to the presence of "good" bacteria that counteract the proliferation of the "bad" ones. This defends us from the most banal dysbiosis, but also from the aggression of pathogenic fungi. Again thanks to food engineering, today we can find fermented milks declined in every way, from whole to skimmed, from vegetable to lactose-free, up to those further added in vitamins for example (such as vitamin D).
We have said that fermented milks are made fermented by some bacteria, i.e. lactic ferments. These are live microorganisms which, germinating in the intestine, restore the original intestinal bacterial microflora, altered by pathologies, incorrect diets, stress of various kinds.
Probiotics and Prebiotics two specific functions for the bacterial flora
The most common definition of lactic ferment is probiotic, not to be confused with the prebiotic, or non-digestible dietary fibers that feed the "good" bacteria already present in our intestines. Simply put, the prebiotic is the food of the probiotic.
Practical examples
When does it make sense to use these two sides of the same coin? The probiotic can be a good adjunct to antibiotic therapy, which generally kills the disease without distinction bacterial flora, subsequently causing dysbiosis of some strains of bacteria that proliferate more easily and quickly. It also makes sense at special times emotional stress or other, as the subject tends to somatize at the gastric level, or in the case of non-serious but annoying pathologies such as spastic colitis. As for the prebiotic, it should be taken after a possible cycle of probiotics, to give it nourishment. Using a prebiotic in conditions of dysbiosis could aggravate the existing condition. It therefore makes no sense to take prebiotics in particular conditions abdominal swelling, which shows in almost all cases, a dysbiosis. It will be more appropriate to recreate a correct bacterial flora and then feed it in the best way. Unfortunately, in Italy, these two words are used as synonyms, but as we have seen they are not.
The jungle of supplements (not always beneficial) and useful foods
They are found in the form of supplements in any pharmacy, but not everyone has titrations suitable for benefit. In other words, if there are not enough bacteria of the appropriate strains inside there will be no appreciable effects, therefore it becomes difficult to even understand which ones to buy.
What foods are prebiotics found in? They are fibers present above all in bananas, honey, onions, leeks, sauerkraut, cabbage, chicory, garlic and wheat.
Then there are fermented milk-based products on the market, similar to yogurt but with a more liquid consistency that promise to make lower cholesterol, terrible enemy of all men, much more than women. In these cases, the product is added with plant sterols, useful in these cases of hypercholesterolemia. The content of sterols present in every single bottle is equivalent to several tens of kilos of fruit and / or vegetables to eat, and this makes it a supplement in all respects. But its contribution is minimal (estimated at approximately 10% maximum of total cholesterol reduction) and can only be assessed within a balanced diet where there is regular physical activity. It is well understood that the benefits obtained will then be obtained thanks to the diet and to movement and not thanks to the supplement, which obviously won't work if you don't change your lifestyle.
Symbiotics and the importance of fermented milks
For some years now there have also been "symbiotics" on the market, a product that uses the synergy between these two types of molecules and which seems to be able to improve the absorption capacity of some minerals, protect against inflammation in the intestine and also improve lactose intolerance, if any.
From here we understand the importance of fermented milks, food products that naturally already contain probiotics, which cost us less than supplements and which help us fill our stomachs. We should all increase the daily quota of fermented milks in our diet, the wallet thanks and also the intestines.
