Why I Take a PREbiotic

I’ve been taking a prebiotic for a few months now and originally started taking a prebiotic as part of my quest to find alternatives to Plexus. I’ve found that when I take my supplements consistently, my energy levels feel normalized and my bloating disappears.

But first things first:

Here is the prebiotic I use.

How to take it:

1 capsule before lunch and/or dinner.

You can get 60 capsules on Amazon. This is equal to a 30 day supply, because you want to take two capsules, once a day.

vs.

Plexus Slim/Pink Drink which costs $87.95 for 30 packets (which will last you between 15-30 days).

You can get potentially double the supply of prebiotics for about $70 cheaper with this alternative.

Why I found this as an alternative to Plexus Slim

Plexus Slim (a.k.a. “Pink Drink”), is essentially green coffee bean extract, Xylooligosaccharide (XOS), and chromium.

To be honest, the only ingredient that I think might have some validity is XOS. Green coffee bean extract always seems to be the ingredient in fat burners that are advertised on TV. To be honest, I’m both skeptical and nervous to put anything in my body that markets itself as fat burning. Chromium may help with blood sugar regularity, but clinical trials haven’t shown any significance.

Xylooligosaccharide (XOS) does have some serious potential though. It is a prebiotic, which essentially means that it is stuff for the bacteria to feed on.

FYI: I have never tried Plexus because I think it is so expensive so I sought these alternatives to find a cheaper way to try to get the results that everyone talks about. But I will say that I lost 2 pounds in under a month when using these supplements consistently.

So let’s talk about prebiotics and XOS.

There are lots of scholarly research papers published about the role of gut bacteria in weight and energy. One of the craziest studies to prove that point is a study that looked at sets of twins in which one twin was obese and the other was a healthy weight. They transferred the gut bacteria from the twins into mice and then watched the result. The mice that received the “obese” bacteria gained weight, and the mice that received the other bacteria stayed the same weight.

The key is figuring out what bacteria is good and is going to have positive effects on weight and energy. This study concluded that increasing Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli bacteria, without increasing the deleterious Bacteroides bacteria, are most likely promoting metabolic and immunological health.

Prebiotics do not contribute to human nourishment, but rather provide something from the good bacteria to feed on. The principal effect of prebiotics on the human gut microbiota is to stimulate the growth of the Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus genera (what we want!).

There are other prebiotics on the market, however, I chose Xylooligosaccharide (XOS) for two reasons:

a. XOS is the prebiotic found in Plexus Slim and I was trying to find an alternative for it.

b. According to the literature, XOS had a clear impact on gut microbiota. It is associated with dramatic shifts of several bacterial taxa associated with pre-diabetes. Among them, Dialister spp Bacteria and Slackia bacteria are pro-inflammatory, and were greatly reduced by XOS. XOS supplementation also greatly increases the Bifidobacterium population (good!)

 

Again here is the link for the prebiotic I use. The Xylooligosaccharide (XOS) in this prebiotic is derived from corn cob and I’ve found helps with bloating along with the the other supplements I take.

 

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