Probiotics Definitions
Probiotics (Food-Info.net article)
Oral probiotics are living microorganisms which, upon digestion in certain
numbers, exert health benefits beyond inherent basic nutrition.
Probiotics (Wikipedia article)
Probiotics are dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial bacteria or yeast, with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as the most common microbes used. LAB have been used in the food industry for many years, because they are able to convert sugars (including lactose) and other carbohydrates into lactic acid.
Note
Genki Foods differ from most probiotics supplements in that Genki Foods are fermented foods.
Probiotic supplements are produced in laboratory environments and usually contain only the freeze dried microbes and possibly one or more stabilizers and/or culturing substrates.
Genki Foods are shelf stable because the microbes have not been removed from the environment they were created in. This environment is a whole food complex containing lactic acid and other organic acids which helps to naturally preserve both the microbes and their food source.
What are Probiotics? (WebMD article)
Probiotics are small organisms that help maintain the natural balance of organisms (microflora) in the intestines.
Gut Flora (Wikipedia article)
The gut flora are the microorganisms that normally live in the digestive tract and can perform a number of useful functions for their hosts.
Prebiotics (Wikipedia article)
Prebiotics are a category of functional food, defined as: Non-digestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon, and thus improve host health.
Typical dietary sources of prebiotics are soybeans, Jerusalem artichokes (which contain inulin), raw oats, unrefined wheat and unrefined barley. The prebiotic oligosaccharides that naturally occur in breast milk are believed to play an important role in the development of a healthy immune system in infants.
Note
The raw malt in the Genki Foods powders serve as prebiotics.
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