Pre, Pro, and Post-biotics. What’s the difference?

Pre, Pro, and Post-Biotics… What’s the Difference?

There is no shortage of products on the shelf for humans, horses, and pets that label themselves as prebiotics or probiotics, or maybe in the description they mention postbiotic support.  Which may be great, but what does it all mean?  And how do they help us or our animals?  To start at the very beginning is to understand what the root word means.  Biotic means to relate to living things.  Great, so we have established that these products somehow relate to living things… now what?  Now we break down the differences between these terms.  While these products are usually marketed for us and our animals, going forward we will discuss the differences as they pertain to our horses.    

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are the nonliving ingredients in feeds that provide nutrition to the beneficial microorganisms that live in the equine gastrointestinal tract.  By providing nutrition to these beneficial microorganisms, they can flourish while also keeping harmful microorganism populations down.  Horses rely on these beneficial microorganisms to break down their food into units that are useful to their cells for necessary daily functions.  Prebiotics can also serve as food for probiotics when they enter the gut scene.  The healthier your horse’s digestive system, the healthier your horse will be overall.

Probiotics 

While prebiotics can naturally occur in small quantities in feeds, probiotics have to be supplemented into the feeding routine.  Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that aid in maintaining the balance of microorganisms in the gut of your horse.  They also aid in digestion as well as assisting the immune system, since ~80% of the equine immune system is located in the gastrointestinal tract.  These factors can also impact your horse’s behavior, so keeping their digestive system healthy can help them have a better attitude (generally, this has not been scientifically proven on chestnut mares).  Probiotics are essential in your feeding program because they act as mycotoxin binders.  Mycotoxins are the naturally occurring toxins that exist in the things our horses are eating, in small amounts.  While the GI tract is usually pretty good at dealing with mycotoxins by itself, that does not mean that we cannot aid in the process.  The healthier the gut bacteria, the fewer mycotoxins, the better the feed utilization for our horses.

Postbiotics

Postbiotics are the by-products of the body consuming the pre and probiotics.  They can also be created as byproducts from consuming yeast and supplemented in the diet in that way.  Postbiotics can also be bits of the dead bacteria that naturally exist in the gut of our horses.  Postbiotics are important because they can help reduce stress, increase anti-inflammatory responses and also help keep the harmful bacteria populations in the gut to a minimum.  

Now that you know the difference between pre, pro, and postbiotics you can hopefully see the benefit of ensuring your horse is getting adequate amounts of each kind.  Look to our labels to find supplements that contain pre, pro, and postbiotics.

Click here to learn more about BIOMOSS and YEASACC  in our formulas from AllTech.