---
title: The difference between Prebiotics and probiotics
description: Pre­bi­otics are in­di­gestible food in­gre­di­ents and the pre­ferred nu­tri­tion of the mi­cro-or­gan­isms that pro­mote health. Pre­bi­otics se­lec­tively pro­mote the growth, but also the ac­tiv­ity of one or more ­bacteria in the colon, and so have pos­i­tive ef­fect on our health.
image: https://inside.hochdorf.com/hubfs/HOCHDORF%20Inside/Ausgabe%2005/HocIns_No_5_BC_Praebiotika-sind-entscheidend-fuer-die-gesunde-Entwicklung-der-Darmflora.png
---

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## [The difference between Prebiotics and probiotics](https://inside.hochdorf.com/en/prebiotics-and-probiotics)

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 By [Janny Vedder](https://inside.hochdorf.com/en/author/janny-vedder) - May 18, 2018

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![DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PREBIOTICS AND PROBIOTICS ](https://inside.hochdorf.com/hs-fs/hubfs/HOCHDORF%20Inside/Ausgabe%2005/HocIns_No_5_BC_Praebiotika-sind-entscheidend-fuer-die-gesunde-Entwicklung-der-Darmflora.png?width=750&name=HocIns_No_5_BC_Praebiotika-sind-entscheidend-fuer-die-gesunde-Entwicklung-der-Darmflora.png)

[Pre­bi­otics](https://www.hochdorf.com/en/baby-care/glossary/glossar-detail/term/prebiotics/) are in­di­gestible food in­gre­di­ents and the pre­ferred nu­tri­tion of the mi­cro-or­gan­isms that pro­mote health. Pre­bi­otics se­lec­tively pro­mote the growth, but also the ac­tiv­ity of one or more ­bacteria in the colon, and so have pos­i­tive ef­fect on our health. This ef­fect is known as the “bi­di­fus fac­tor”. Pre­bi­otics can be of veg­etable ori­gin, such as in­ulin and oligofruc­tose, or can de­rived from milk, such as [galac­tooligosac­cha­rides](https://www.hochdorf.com/en/baby-care/glossary/glossar-detail/term/galactooligosaccharides/). 

[Pro­bi­otics](https://www.hochdorf.com/en/baby-care/glossary/glossar-detail/term/probiotics/) are liv­ing mi­cro-or­gan­isms that are ac­tive in suf­fi­cient num­bers in the colon and have a pos­i­tive ef­fect on our health. The spe­cial ­feature of pro­bi­otics is that they sur­vive at­tacks from gas­tric and bile acids and so reach the colon safely. ­Probiotic bac­te­ria mainly be­long to the Lac­to­bacil­lus and Bi­fi­dobac­terium gen­era.

```
Source:  Gib­son GR & Rober­froid MB (1995). Di­etary ­modulation of the human colonic mi­cro-biota: In­tro­duc­ing the con­cept of ­prebiotics, Jour­nal of Nu­tri­tion, Vol. 125, No. 6, 1401–1412
```

---

Fur­ther in­for­ma­tion

- Ar­ti­cle ["Pre­bi­otics in in­fant for­mula"](https://inside.hochdorf.com/en/prebiotics-in-infant-formula?hsLang=en)
- Overview ["Good and bad bac­te­ria"](https://inside.hochdorf.com/good-and-bad-bacteria?hsLang=en)
- Overview ["In­ter­est­ing facts about our bac­te­ria zoo"](https://inside.hochdorf.com/en/interesting-facts-about-our-bacteria-zoo?hsLang=en)

 

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