Loading up on galacto-oligosaccharides

I previously discussed how galacto-oligosaccharides, or GOS, may provide unique or outsized benefits in cultivating healthy bowel flora, particularly bifidobacteria. Enriching bowel flora in bifidobacteria has been associated with a wide array of health benefits ranging from decreases in insulin to improved mental health. If you are interested in GOS and obtaining the beneficial effects of prebiotic fibers, note that these are strategies that should only be pursued if you are wheat/grain-free, have been taking a high-potency probiotic (e.g., 50 billion CFUs per day), and do not have dysbiosis. (Prebiotic fibers will make dysbiosis worse, signaled by abdominal pain, excessive bloating and gas, and diarrhea, since they feed undesirable microbial species as well as desirable.) How do we go about increasing our intake of GOS? While there are nutritional supplements you can buy (though mostly also contain beta glucan sourced from oats, thereby risking exposure to oat proteins such as avenin that can cross-react with other grain prolamin proteins, such as gliadin of wheat), in the Wheat Belly lifestyle we try to obtain our nutrients from real, whole foods. (The supplement powders are also very expensive, while food sources are inexpensive.) The food sources of GOS also tend to be digestible carbohydrate-rich: eating too large a portion size, while providing greater quantities of GOS, also can send blood sugar and insulin excessively high and can result in stalled weight loss or wei...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle bifidobacteria bowel flora gluten grains metabolic microbiota prebiotic resistant starch Source Type: blogs