• Prebiotics are a special class of functional food ingredients that resist digestion in the stomach and are selectively fermented in the colon (large intestine).
  • They are typically soluble fibers, however, other types of ingredients have been recently classified as prebiotic fibers; such as resistant starches and non-digestible sugars called oligosaccharides
  • While most prebiotics are dietary fibers, many dietary fibers are not prebiotics.
  • Not all dietary fibers are considered prebiotics, as some aren’t fermented by the gut at all, as is typical of non-soluble fiber, or aren’t selectively fermented, meaning they feed gut bacteria.