Prebiotics & Digestive Health: Benefits, Claims & Low FODMAP Tips – Hannah Ackermann (2025)

Speakers: Melissa Joy Dobbins & Hannah Ackermann

[Music Playing]

Voiceover (00:01):

Welcome to Sound Bites, hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist, Melissa Joy Dobbins. Let’s delve into the science, the psychology, and the strategies behind good food and nutrition.

Melissa Joy (00:22):

Hello, and welcome to the Sound Bites Podcast. Today’s episode is about prebiotic fiber, what it is, potential health benefits, where you can find it in foods, beverages, and supplements, what to look for on labels, and more.

We are submitting this episode to the Commission on Dietetic Registration for one free continuing education unit for registered dietitian nutritionists, dietetic technicians, and certified diabetes educators. So, if that is of interest to you, please go to my website at soundbitesrd.com for more information.

Commercial support has been provided by COMET, a company specializing in prebiotic dietary fiber ingredients.

My guest today is Hannah Ackermann. Hannah has over a decade of experience working within the intersection of nutrition and business as a registered dietitian and Monash University, low FODMAP-trained RD.

Hannah uses her expertise in nutrition to direct COMET’s clinical trial strategy and educate people on the benefits of prebiotics, including understanding differences among the ingredients, health claims, and labeling. Welcome to the show, Hannah.

Hannah Ackermann (01:34):

Hi, thank you so much for having me, and congrats on 10 years for the podcast. I think I saw that.

Melissa Joy (01:40):

Thank you so much. Yes, a pretty big milestone. I did not see that coming.

Hannah Ackermann (01:44):

Yeah, and I feel like 10 years ago, there weren’t as many podcasts out there, so you are kind of ahead of the curve, so congrats.

Melissa Joy (01:50):

Thank you. Yeah, it’s exciting. I always say I have no shortage of interesting topics and guests like you, so I feel like we’re just going strong and maybe another 10 years, who knows?

Hannah Ackermann (02:00):

Yeah.

Melissa Joy (02:01):

Well, I would love for you to share with our listeners more about your background and the work you do, and any disclosures to note.

Hannah Ackermann (02:07):

Yeah, so I’ll get the disclosure out of the way. I do work for COMET, the company that you just mentioned specializes in manufacturing prebiotic dietary fibers for use in food, bevs, and supplements. I wanted to get that out of the way.

But that being said, I may have my RD and science hat on today, and I’ll be as unbiased as I possibly can be. A little bit about my background, I always knew that I really was interested in nutrition, but a clinical nutrition career working in private practice or a hospital wasn’t for me.

In undergrad, I actually studied journalism along with nutrition science, which got some interesting looks from my advisor, but I knew there had to be some kind of path where I could combine my love of writing with my love of nutrition, and that’s where I ended up.

I ended up getting an MBA in marketing later as well when I started working more on the food business side, just to better understand from a marketing perspective how these businesses see things.

When I started out as an RD, I worked in nutrition consulting and product development for leading CPG food companies at PR firms. This was a really good learning experience because I pretty much immediately was lucky enough to work with some of the largest CPG food companies in the country.

Melissa Joy (03:22):

And for our listeners who don’t know what CPG means-

Hannah Ackermann (03:25):

Oh, sorry, consumer packaged goods. I won’t name any of the brands specifically, but I think you can guess like major cereal brands, things like that. And I was able to get a really good insight into how these large food brands actually prioritize nutrition in their business.

Unfortunately, it’s not one of the higher things they prioritize, especially when they’re looking to trim budgets. So, that was just really interesting to see how they look at it when developing and selling their products.

I then went on to work at Mintel, which is a consumer insights company where I analyzed consumer survey data, point of sales data and market trends, to help companies develop products that deliver on what consumers say they want, which any RD that’s worked in private practice knows this – what consumers say they want in surveys or tell an RD what they want to eat is very different than what they actually buy.

So, this paradox was really interesting to me that consumers were saying they wanted to buy healthier foods, but then when they actually went to buy them, they weren’t. And that’s one of the things that motivated me to work at a food ingredients company where I do now at COMET because my chief aim at COMET really is to help the customers we work with develop healthier products that include more dietary fiber. And to do that, it’s about taste, it’s about cost, and it’s about nutrition, all three of those things.

Melissa Joy (04:43):

Yeah, the trifecta.

Hannah Ackermann (04:45):

At COMET, I wear a lot of different hats. Like today, for example, I had a call this morning with our scientific advisory board, which is microbiome researchers that we ask questions to when we’re designing clinical strategy. Now, I’m talking to you on a podcast. And then this afternoon, I have a call with our marketing and sales team about SEO for our website.

So, I do a lot of different things, which I really enjoy, and I think in general, a lot of RDs are good at that, with wearing multiple hats and juggling nutrition along with other priorities at companies.

Melissa Joy (05:15):

Absolutely. Very interesting background. Thank you for sharing that. And before we jump into the conversation on prebiotics, I want our listeners to know you’ve shared some excellent resources that I will link to in the show notes at soundbitesrd.com.

This topic, I’ve had this on the podcast before. I’ve attended many sessions about prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics, and symbiotics, but I always need a refresher on this and it can get really, really sciency. So, I’m looking forward to our conversation, but I think these resources that you’ve shared will just help reinforce this information for people.

So, let’s start with some definitions of the different biotics.

Hannah Ackermann (05:53):

Yeah, definitely. And part of the issue I think with these definitions and different things is it depends who you ask. So, for the sake of this conversation, I’m going to reference ISAPP, which you included some resources to in your show notes.

ISAPP is a scientific organization, not a trade organization, and they’re really dedicated to helping everyone, especially from a clinical perspective, better understand probiotics, prebiotics in the microbiome space.

Melissa Joy (06:21):

So, that’s the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics.

Hannah Ackermann (06:25):

Yes. So, their definition of a prebiotic (I’ll give the very sciency one first and then I’ll break it down) is a substrate that is selectively utilized by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit.

So, in simpler terms, prebiotics are a food for the beneficial bacteria in our gut, helping them confer a health benefit. And there’s a number of different health benefits. The ones most notably for prebiotics and probiotics you’ve probably heard of are improved digestion, immunity, things like that.

So, that’s the simple definition of a prebiotic. I like to tell people it’s like fertilizer for the gut. If you think of it, it helps make the optimal environment for good microbes to proliferate, and your end goal is always to have more good bacteria in your gut than bad bacteria. Having that better balance is really what leads us to better microbiome benefits.

Melissa Joy (07:18):

Okay, great. And can you help us differentiate between prebiotics and probiotics?

Hannah Ackermann (07:23):

Yes. So, probiotics are the live microorganisms or microbes that confer a health benefit in our gut. The ones that people are probably most familiar with are lactobacillus and bifidobacteria. I will say I’m much more of a dietary fiber and probiotic expert than I am probiotic or postbiotics or symbiotics, which I can touch on briefly too.

Melissa Joy (07:44):

Yeah, that would be great. I do have definitely some related episodes on this topic, and one in particular on postbiotics. But if you could just kind touch on that briefly. And then I also have one or two related to symbiotics. So, yeah, if you could just explain the basics.

Hannah Ackermann (07:59):

So, a postbiotic is inanimate microorganisms, and they’re components that confer a health benefit in the gut specifically. So, these are non-living metabolites that you can digest. I’ll leave the definition there and let your listeners listen to another expert on it.

And then symbiotics, I have a bit more familiarity with – symbiotics are a mixture of live microorganisms and they’re substrates that confer a health benefit. There’s two types, and I think this kind of helps people better understand what a symbiotic is.

One is complimentary. This is when you administer a probiotic and prebiotic that work independently. And then there’s also synergistic symbiotics. This is when you pair them, so they have an enhanced effect together. One effect of prebiotics can be that it can help protect the probiotics, so it survives in the gut and actually, gives the health benefit at the part of the digestive system where it’s really needed to.

Melissa Joy (08:55):

Great. And we are focusing on prebiotics today. I know that prebiotics have something to do with fiber, but if you could explain that, that would be great.

Hannah Ackermann (09:04):

People used to say all prebiotics are fibers, but not all fibers are prebiotic. And that statement actually has changed a bit because now, there are things like substrates that we’ve identified that are not fibers that actually do have prebiotic benefits. But the last part that not all fibers are prebiotic is still true.

So, dietary fibers we know are the indigestible carbohydrates that you eat that go through your system without breaking down into energy, so they don’t provide calories to people when they eat them. And then there’s a specific subset of dietary fibers that are soluble dietary fibers (not insoluble), and these can be selectively fermented by gut microbes and confer a health benefit. And we call these prebiotics.

So, what makes a fiber prebiotic is that it resists digestion in the upper GI tract. It can be fermented by gut microbes, and it confers a health benefit. And some examples of prebiotic fibers that you could look for on label are inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS, commonly known as), things like Arrabina, which is an Arabinoxylan or wheat fiber extract, and then resistant starches. And there’s a number of resistant starches on the market as well.

Some things that are not prebiotic fibers, insoluble fibers are things like cellulose, lignin, wheat bran, things like that. But these dietary fibers are still very beneficial in our digestion as we know, they’re just not fermented by gut microbes and giving a health benefit.

Melissa Joy (10:42):

Okay, great. So, I’d like to talk about what the research overall is showing regarding the potential health benefits of prebiotics.

Hannah Ackermann (10:51):

Yes. So, this is still a relatively new area of science just looking at clinical science as a whole. But there are some things we know for sure that I think are important for especially the RD listeners.

The evidence is strongest for the digestive and immune support of prebiotics. And by that, I mean digestion support can include increasing beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria, lactobacillus, or akkermansia, which helps enhance our microbiome diversity (good to have a lot of different microbes in there).

They also can help with constipation and improving stool consistency and can help with IBS management.

Melissa Joy (11:31):

Irritable bowel syndrome.

Hannah Ackermann (11:33):

Yes. And then secondly, immune modulation. There’s a couple different ways that prebiotics can affect this that are world well-documented in science, most notably by looking at inflammation markers. So, just helping with systemic inflammation, reducing it throughout the body.

There are some newer areas of health benefits that clinical trials are still looking at. There are some great clinical trials on these for certain strains of prebiotics. It’s important to note that all of these health benefits are really the prebiotic type specifically. You can’t have just an overarching term that, “Oh, all prebiotics do these things.” It really is specific to the individual prebiotic and what research has been done on it to show the benefits.

So, some prebiotics have been shown to have metabolic health benefits, so things like insulin sensitivity and glycemic control, triglycerides, cholesterol. Some prebiotics like inulin have been shown to enhance calcium and mineral absorption, especially in adolescents and post-menopausal women.

And then a really interesting emerging area, we use mental health, we call psychobiotics. So, some prebiotics like GOS, there’s some promising research on how they could potentially reduce anxiety and improve emotional processing via the gut-brain axis.

But again, the bottom line for RDs, I’d say the evidence on digestive health and immune modulation for some specific strands of prebiotics is really strongest. And then these metabolic and other benefits, depending on the prebiotic and its amount of clinical research, it’s possible.

Melissa Joy (13:05):

Yeah, I think that’s one of the reasons it can be confusing, but it makes perfect sense that different strains and different types of prebiotics would have different potential health benefits, and that the research is the strongest in regard to digestive health and immune health, but emerging for mood depression, things like that, right?

Hannah Ackermann (13:29):

Yeah. And part of the reason is just we’ve figured out so much starts in the gut. We know we eat, it’s just an important part of our entire body, and we no longer know there’s a gut-brain axis. We know there’s a gut axis to pretty much every component of our body. It’s really interesting just how much the microbiome really affects our overall health and what research is continuing to show.

So, I have a feeling in another 10 years that this health benefits part will be even longer and more robust. Especially where I’m from, I’m coming from a brand that makes claims, it’s so important that we have good clinical research before we’re necessarily saying that all these claims should be put on pack.

Melissa Joy (14:09):

Exactly. And you mentioned the gut-brain axis. I was reading in one of the resources that you provided, there’s a gut-liver axis, gut-skin axis, gut-kidney axis, and even more. And it also speaks to your comment about these health benefits that are being researched have to do with, I don’t know if mechanism is the right word, but like inflammation.

Inflammation is connected to certain health outcomes, and certain prebiotics are beneficial in reducing inflammation along those lines, right?

Hannah Ackermann (14:45):

And that’s a really interesting area of the science because researchers have found for unhealthy populations, and by that, I mean not only the blood are obese but also diabetic or other health conditions, is that they have low-grade inflammation throughout their entire body.

So, really interesting growing area of research, and it seems like the microbiome has a very big role in helping with low-grade inflammation and strategies to help target that. It’s really interesting, one trend that I find, I don’t want to say troubling, but something that I think could become a concern in growing years is just how much people are overeating protein or are on super high protein diets, and what that’s going to do to inflammation throughout their body and their colon long-term for their health.

I definitely believe in personalized nutrition. I think that a diet that works for one person to help manage their health might not necessarily work for another, and that it is about finding what works for you. But the high protein diets in particular, that trend, I’m just a little wary about what the long-term effects are when people are doing that.

Because a lot of times, they’re cutting out carbohydrate rich foods that contain these really important fiber and prebiotics and plant compounds that we know have really good inflammation effects throughout the body and help with digestion and all these different things, especially related to colon health.

Melissa Joy (16:06):

That was going to be my next question to you, is it’s not necessarily the high protein, but that those foods may be replacing a variety of carbohydrate sources that would be providing a variety of fibers, right?

Hannah Ackermann (16:17):

Yeah. I think any RDs know that the dietary guidelines were made for a reason and there’s a reason we have all the different food groups, and that each food group does have a special place for providing some minerals, micronutrients, and macronutrients, and that when people cut out one, it can be difficult to fill those nutrition gaps.

I think there’s that issue, but there’s also just the issue that when you’re eating a lot of protein and it’s being fermented in the gut, there are some negative things that happen with protein fermentation in the gut, even plant-based proteins, it’s true.

So, it’s just something for people to think about that are on high protein diets, how they’re going to still get that balance and make sure they’re having a good gut health. And I think this is going to be something that as more people are taking on these high protein diets, we’re going to see more of an emphasis on in nutrition research in the future.

Melissa Joy (17:08):

Okay, great. And you mentioned the dietary guidelines, and one of the tenets of that is variety. And I think maybe the dietitians listening might know this and maybe some listeners as well, other listeners, but I think it bears repeating.

Could you speak to the importance of variety and really articulate that because I think it kind of gets glossed over or forgotten.

Hannah Ackermann (17:30):

Yeah, and I’ll talk about it specifically with the microbiome. So, diversity in the microbiome is very important. You need different microbes living in there because they do different things. In order to have different microbes in those diversity, you actually need a diverse amount of food for them.

One prebiotic isn’t necessarily going to be able to be a substrate or fermented by every type of bacteria. There are certain prebiotics that certain probiotics or good bacteria breakdown in the gut. And in order to ensure that you really need a diverse amount of plants in your diet or supplements with different prebiotic fibers that you’re taking to make sure that you’re keeping that diversity present.

For example, there’s a bacteria akkermansia that we know is really important for leaky gut. So, leaky gut’s kind of the consumer jargon term for just gut intestinal permeability. We really want to keep that mucus layer on your gut healthy. And akkermansia has been a strain that’s shown to really help that.

But not all prebiotics promote akkermansia growth. So, that’s why just having diverse plants in your diet and prebiotics are so important, so you’re making sure that some of the akkermansia microbes do have that good fertilizer, the prebiotics that help those grow.

Melissa Joy (18:48):

Okay, great. Are there any approved health claims for prebiotics?

Hannah Ackermann (18:54):

Yes. So, depending on the prebiotic, there are – Arrabina, for example, the product COMET sells, we have a metabolic health claim. So, it’s been shown to help support healthy blood sugar levels. There are also just general digestive health claims like help support digestive health.

I’ve seen immune support claims on certain prebiotics, and then I’ve seen some cognitive health claims on certain prebiotics. I’m not going to speak to those specifically, but they do exist. It’s not for our product yet.

Maybe someday we’ll do a clinical trial that shows those endpoints, but we haven’t yet. Partly, just because some of those endpoints, having one clinical study that shows, I don’t know if we’d feel comfortable making a claim on pack around unless there’s a very, very, very strong evidence within the one clinical trial. Generally, you want to do a series to see a benefit before you put something on pack.

Melissa Joy (19:46):

And there’s regulations on what you can put on the package, right?

Hannah Ackermann (19:49):

Yes, exactly.

Melissa Joy (19:51):

And so, what trends are you seeing regarding consumer interest in biotics? You mentioned having worked with Mintel and Consumer Insights, and I talk about Consumer Insights a lot on the podcast and can totally appreciate your comment about what consumers are saying may not always match up with purchase data.

And I always say usually, it doesn’t match up with what we’re seeing in the media and social media, but I know that you have a trends report or something regarding consumer interest in biotics.

Hannah Ackermann (20:20):

Yes. Actually, that’d be great if we could link in the show notes to a link to COMET’s trends report.

Melissa Joy (20:25):

Sure.

Hannah Ackermann (20:26):

So, one thing our customers find really valuable is that our marketing team does keep a pulse on what’s happening in the microbiome space and what consumers are searching for on Google, what they’re looking at on TikTok. And then we do look at point of sales data and new products that are coming out on the market.

So, we use all four of those things to help us guide. So, we’re not just totally dependent on what consumers say in a survey because we know that’s not always the most accurate. Just overall, one trend that we’re seeing is that people are becoming a lot more proactive with their health.

Melissa Joy (20:59):

That’s great.

Hannah Ackermann (21:00):

Especially as boomers and Gen Xers with healthy aging, they’re becoming much more proactive. Even Gen Z prioritizes healthy aging. I’ve seen some research reports on that, which is so interesting. Just how they differ from millennials and how they’re spending their twenties and prioritizing their health.

According to Innova trends, nearly three in five consumers say they’re proactive or tend to be proactive about their health. And within this, gut health is a key area where people are proactive, and consumers are realizing that gut health and the health benefits go beyond just digestion. And they’re really looking for scientific backed claims and they’re also looking for convenience, how they’re taking it.

So, they’re not just looking for a powder supplement, they’re looking for gummies, bars, OLIPOP soda, things like that that make it more of an exciting and accessible space.

One trend that I’d love to chat about is GutTok. I don’t use TikTok very often, just because it’s such a time suck. But I do like getting on GutTok and seeing what people are talking about.

Melissa Joy (22:00):

Okay. What is GutTok?

Hannah Ackermann (22:02):

So, GutTok is a hashtag on TikTok, and it’s a huge area of TikTok, over 112 million average views on GutTok hashtag-related posts every week on TikTok.

Speaker 5 (22:18):

Wow.

Hannah Ackermann (22:19):

And most of these are centered around things like weight loss and bloating, which that’s surprising that’s keys areas of consumer interest. But some of them go really deep into the science, and just showing how interested this subset of consumers are in understanding their digestive health and how it relates to their body. That’s really fascinating to me just how interested in the science people are.

Melissa Joy (22:43):

Do you think one of the reasons people are interested in this proactive approach and gut health is because they can see immediate benefits? There may be long-term benefits as well, but at least they also have those immediate benefits that they can see?

Hannah Ackermann (22:58):

I think so. And I also just think that in general, constipation, IBS, those conversations around those are becoming less taboo. I wish when people went to the doctor, the fifth vital sign was, “What are your poops like? What’s your stool like?” Because it’s such an important question for our health, but it makes people really uncomfortable unfortunately.

So many women in particular deal with IBS and constipation. 10 to 15% of the population is thought to have IBS. And within that, 60% of those are generally women, and especially for post-menopausal women or women dealing with any type of hormone fluctuations, constipation and IBS are big issues for them just in their overall health. And it’s good that those conversations are becoming less taboo.

And I think GutTok and just those different forms has helped normalize that people realize, “Oh, it’s not just me. This is actually something that’s affecting a lot of people and let’s hear what they’re finding for solutions.”

Actually, it’s a great manifestation of this trend. Belly Welly is a company that sells powder supplements and other type of gut health supplements. They had this whole campaign in billboard around hot girls have IBS. They literally had a huge billboard; hot girls have IBS. They had wristbands, stickers. And after they had that campaign, they reported that their sales went up 40% for their products.

Melissa Joy (24:19):

Wow, wow.

Hannah Ackermann (24:20):

So, I think it’s just eliminating that stigma around IBS/IBD and just constipation and gut health in general because it does affect so many people.

Melissa Joy (24:29):

Yeah, that reminds me of a product. Again, we are talking about products that we don’t have any relationship to, but Regular Girl, a probiotic supplement, and even just such a clever name. I know a dietitian colleague of ours worked a lot with that company, I don’t know if she still does.

But giving presentations on like, yeah, what is your poop supposed to look like, and what does that mean. And just being regular, making it less taboo, like you said, normalizing the conversation, right?

Hannah Ackermann (24:58):

Yeah. I think for supplements, weight loss benefits or constipation or regularity benefits is something people can see. There’s a lot of benefits when you take things that, oh, maybe it’s working, I don’t know. But yeah, those are definitely … I mean, hopefully, you see every day for the gut health benefits, but something people really value for sure.

And then looking at new product releases, and when I say new product releases, Mintel keeps a pulse on global new products that come out on the market. And they’ve seen a study increase in products with a digestive health claim over the last year. And in particular, a prebiotic health claim.

From Q1 2024 to Q1 2025, there was a 45% increase in products making a digestive health claim, and 113% increase in products making a prebiotic claim. So, this means on label, they’re actually making a prebiotic claim.

That shows that brands believe that consumers find value in prebiotic and understand when they see that claim on label what it means, which I think is huge because five years ago when I started at COMET, I don’t think most people they saw a prebiotic pack claim would know what that means.

They probably would think, oh, it’s probiotic, maybe it’s good for my gut. But there’s definitely a lot more education around prebiotics than ever before. And it’s in so many more formats like OLIPOP soda and Poppi soda, snack foods, bakeries, it’s really moved out of the supplement powder space.

Melissa Joy (26:22):

Right, into the foods. It’s functional foods and beverages.

Hannah Ackermann (26:26):

So, one other trend I think that’s leading people to be more interested in fiber and digestive health is GLP-1. I love talking to RDs in the clinical space or practitioners in the clinical space about how GLP-1 drugs have affected patients and what they’re seeing, what they’re hearing about symptoms, just because it really has exploded.

It’s just so interesting to me what the long-term effects of these drugs and medications are going to be on, and if people are going to be able to be on them long-term, and how it’s just going to affect the food industry. We’re already seeing that snack food sales are down according to major food companies, which is something that I think most RDs are probably happy about.

Most packaged snack foods aren’t really the healthiest. And at the same time, there are some food categories that have increased sales, and those are high protein ones like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, nutrition shakes, meat snacks, all of those product categories are actually going up as these other snack food products go down.

Now, I wish more of these categories and snacks that were going up had more fiber, and I’m hoping that that might happen because that is one thing that people on GLP-1 drugs need more of, is fiber because they’re eating less in general. They need to make sure everything they’re eating is super nutrient dense, including not only protein to help them not lose muscle, but also fiber to help their digestion and help them keep regular.

Because one of the side effects of GLP-1 drugs is constipation, diarrhea, and other not great microbiome side effects.

Melissa Joy (27:56):

Yeah, I feel like I’ve seen GLP-1-related topics with regard to food, some foods saying these are good for patients on GLP-1s. Is that what you’re talking about, just nutrient dense foods or is there something else?

Hannah Ackermann (28:13):

Yeah, so there’s a couple different ways the food industry is really seeing this GLP-1 as I want to say, a market opportunity when they’re developing new products. One is companion products. So, when a company is developing a product, they’re thinking about GLP-1 users and what they need while taking these drugs. So, that could be a high protein nutrition shake or a fiber supplement to help them manage their symptoms and help them.

Another category would be an alternative to GLP-1. So, there are some products that claim to naturally increase satiety through GLP-1. Fermentable fibers do naturally help with satiety. They actually work within the GLP-1 and peptide YY pathways.

Obviously, nothing is going to be as intense as taking a drug that’s systemic and goes into you. It’d be like a diabetic taking insulin versus a pre-diabetic just taking more fiber. It is a similar thing. You can’t get as high benefits, but you definitely can still target those pathways naturally through certain foods, including prebiotic fibers.

And then the last way the food and beverage companies we’re talking to are seeing this opportunity is creating products that help people when they come off GLP-1, because I think staying on these drugs, at least from what I’ve heard from practitioners long-term is very difficult.

But people are very motivated once they’ve lost weight on the drugs to keep the weight off, and they’re willing to invest in their health and invest in products that help them keep those positive benefits they’ve seen from the drugs.

Melissa Joy (29:42):

Keeping the weight off is a conversation that I think is just beginning in relationship to the GLP-1 conversation. I actually have a related episode on that. I actually have a lot of related episodes to several things that we’ve been talking about. I have a Gen Z survey episode, digital health literacy, IBS, so I’ll put all those links in the show notes at soundbitesrd.com.

Hannah Ackermann (30:03):

Perfect.

Melissa Joy (30:04):

Speaking of IBS, let’s talk about this Monash low FODMAP training that you’ve been through. And is it a certification that you have then?

Hannah Ackermann (30:13):

Yeah, so it’s a certification through Monash I received CDR credits for, which is always great. One of the most interesting things about the certification is that I got it thinking it was really going to be most concentrated on IBS, but there was actually a ton of good information about fiber in it in general, because fiber has such an important role within a low FODMAP diet and digestion.

So, the food science parts of it were really interesting. And then they also just have trainings on if you have a patient wanting to follow a low FODMAP diet, how to advise them, how to help them start the diet and different things like that. So, for dietitians more in a clinical practice.

Melissa Joy (30:51):

Yeah. Can you explain what the diet is?

Hannah Ackermann (30:54):

Yes. So, the low FODMAP diet is an eating plan that’s designed to help people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or other digestive issues. FODMOP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. And essentially, what all these are short chain carbohydrates that for some individuals are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and rapidly fermented by gut bacteria.

And what all of this does is it draws water into the gut and produces gas, which can lead to bloating, cramping, diarrhea, constipation. That’s kind of the very clinical term for the low FODMAP diet. But essentially, it’s a diet for people that are dealing with IBS and are sensitive to these short chain carbohydrates just to help them better manage their symptoms.

Melissa Joy (31:45):

And is it to eliminate those potential problematic fibers, and then gradually introduce them back as tolerated?

Hannah Ackermann (31:56):

Yeah, so for everyone, it’s a little different. Generally, how you approach the diet is you do elimination phases. So, first, you eliminate fructans, which is one of the classes of them, and see, “Am I doing better? Is this helping me?” And then, “No, no, okay, well, that probably isn’t the FODMAP that I really need to pay attention to.”

And you kind of go through the list and then hopefully, by the end you see, “Oh, it’s actually only this one subset of FODMAPs that bothers me. So, I don’t need to eliminate every FODMAP” because eliminating every FODMAP from your diet would be, in my opinion, really difficult just in terms of being able to eat a normal diet when you’re eating out or snacks or anything. It’d be very hard for I think most people to manage doing that. And also, you’d be missing out on some good nutrients too that are in some of these.

Melissa Joy (32:39):

So, we know most people are not getting enough fiber in general. I think the statistic is 9 out of 10 people, probably me included, are not getting enough fiber. Do we know, are there any statistics on prebiotic intake? I mean, there’s no RDA for that or anything, but do we know probably going to fall in line with fiber intake?

Hannah Ackermann (32:58):

Yeah, I’d say it probably falls in line with fiber intake. Unfortunately, a lot of fiber people get are insoluble, and it’s the soluble fiber that has most prebiotic benefits. So, I’d say it’s even lower, unfortunately, which is why I think most people would rather have functional foods or eat most things from foods.

But supplementing with prebiotics is important for some people because it is difficult to get enough from your diet alone. We don’t eat as ancestral; we used to eat. We eat a lot more processed food where fiber unfortunately is taken out of a lot of the things we eat every day. So, we have to figure out a way to get it put back in.

Melissa Joy (33:33):

And that’s one of the, I think, opportunities of “processed foods.” And I know that some products are putting fiber into the foods and that is good. But I also hear from patients (and I’ve had this issue myself), is that they struggle with some GI symptoms when they eat certain prebiotics or certain foods that have prebiotics in them. So, could you explain why that is and maybe there’s some that it can be more problematic than others?

Hannah Ackermann (34:02):

Definitely. So, some prebiotics are oligosaccharides, and if you remember what FODMAP stands for, oligosaccharides is the O. So, for context, oligosaccharides can be fructans (so FOS) or galacto-oligosaccharides. And both FOS and GOS are high FODMAP, meaning they’re poorly absorbed in the small intestine and can lead to bloating discomfort, especially in people with IBS. Even people without IBS, if they take a lot of these at one time – you’ve experienced it, you know, it’s not fun.

So, probably one of the most common fructans is inulin, which is in a lot of products that have high fiber claims. So, I’m not going to name any specifics, I don’t want to disparage any brands. But if you look on pack, a lot of things that say fiber, you’ll see inulin. It’s also labeled as chicory root or Jerusalem artichoke.

And inulin is naturally found in garlic, onion leeks. They’re all sorts of natural sources for it, but generally, you find it added to a lot of processed foods. And it’s really unfortunate because often, people’s first experience with prebiotics are inulin. And if they have a sensitive stomach and taste it, they’re like, “Oh my gosh, I never want to try a soda that says it’s prebiotic again. I had such a bad episode from that” because they just lump all prebiotics together.

But not all prebiotics are oligosaccharides. There’s longer chain prebiotics that you can look for on label that are low FODMAP-friendly, and are not going to give you those negative GI symptoms. What to look for on pack, is there a low FODMAP-friendly claim on it? Because then you know that prebiotic fiber doesn’t fall into that oligosaccharide classification.

Melissa Joy (35:47):

Is that like a seal or is it just like a statement?

Hannah Ackermann (35:50):

So, it can be either way. There is specific certifications, like Arrabina has a certification, low FODMAP-friendly, Monash has a certification, low FODMAP-friendly, and they have an app where you can look through different products that are low FODMAP approved.

But then also when you’re just looking at the fibers on pack, if you can identify FOS and GOS and what those look like. And then also, if you can identify probiotics on pack that won’t have those issues. So, some of those are Sunfiber as a guar gum. So, in general, guar gums are low FODMAP-friendly. They can be labeled as pack as partially hydrolyzed guar gum or different wording like that.

Acacia fiber is well-tolerated, resistant starches type two are well-tolerated. And then Arabinoxylan or wheat fiber extracts are also well-tolerated. A clinical tip for RDs or anyone struggling with those, is you kind of have to be an ingredient sleuth when it comes to fiber or just take less. Don’t have two bars the first time you try them. Have one bar, half a bar and see how your tummy feels, and then decide if you want another one.

Melissa Joy (36:53):

Yeah, I was going to ask because we do recommend that just for fiber in general, is to gradually increase it, get plenty of water. So, that works for these types of prebiotics as well, is to gradually increase them.

Hannah Ackermann (37:06):

Yeah, and we’ve found that in clinical studies too, if we are doing a clinical study with a population that’s used to eating a high fiber diet, generally, they do okay even with FOS and GOS. They’re not going to have a lot of tolerability issues.

If you’re dealing with a patient or a clinical study population where they’re eating only 10 grams of fiber a day, they’re probably going to be a lot more sensitive to some of these. But if they start eating more fruits and vegetables and other fibers, they might naturally work up to having a better tolerance.

Melissa Joy (37:34):

And in one of the resources that you provided for the show notes, it has a list of (well, it’s got quite a bit) prebiotic and microbiome terms. It lists out different types of prebiotics, and the research supported health benefits, dosage, sources, applications, but also has prebiotic levels in common fruits and vegetables and richest sources like common fruits and vegetables.

I noticed like broccoli and Brussels sprouts were one of the higher ones (pears, cherries). I don’t know if you would consider them high, but higher than other sources. And then some of the richest sources are fennel, scallion, garlic, white onion, leek, and then that chicory root that you mentioned. So, there’s a lot of great information in that resource.

Hannah Ackermann (38:18):

Yeah, and for any patients or people in general that are looking to increase their dietary fiber, increasing fruits and vegetables in general is what’s going to help you and whole grains. Those plant sources are definitely going to help you get there.

But if you’re eating a diet with a lot of high processed food or you’re like most people like me, and sometimes you do need a processed food to help to supplement and make sure you’re getting all your needs, yeah, there’s a number out there now.

I wish we all could eat homemade foods with fresh fruits and vegetables for every meal, but that’s just unfortunately not a reality for most of us. And that’s where high processed foods I think actually can play a great role in helping supplement some of those.

Melissa Joy (38:57):

Absolutely. I would imagine frozen fruits and vegetables probably have similar, if not the same prebiotic, but I don’t know if the freezing process impacts that.

Hannah Ackermann (39:07):

I don’t think it would. I haven’t seen any research specifically, but from my understanding, a lot of times when you freeze food, it actually gets them at its peak freshness. So, sometimes the nutrients can be higher than fresh food. I feel like I’ve read that somewhere. So, I think with fiber, it probably would be similar.

Melissa Joy (39:23):

Former supermarket dietitian here, used to talk about that all the time. And I think that it’s really important just like with fiber, we know people are not getting enough fruits and vegetables, and I think in my opinion, one of the reasons is, is they think that they have to be fresh.

And if we can say, “Hey, the frozen’s going to count.” Dried fruit, I’m sure is very good too. Yes, there’s canned, which if it’s fruit, you want to look at is it in its own juice? Is it in syrup? If it’s a vegetable, is it no salt added and so on. All of those can count. Juices can count as well, may not have all the fiber. So, definitely I think there are ways to really encourage getting more fruits and vegetables.

And to your point too, it sounds like if we try to get a variety of fruits and vegetables and grains with all these different types of fiber – food first, but we may need a supplement or some of these functional foods that have the fiber put in there.

Hannah Ackermann (40:21):

Yeah, I’m big on accessibility for people when it comes to food. It’s so hard to eat a hundred percent healthy all the time.

Melissa Joy (40:28):

Oh yeah.

Hannah Ackermann (40:28):

But that is my number one tip for people whenever they ask me … when they find out I’m an RD, and they’re like, “What’s your one tip?” And I’m like, “Eat more fiber.” So, whatever that means for you. Fruits and vegetables, supplements, just eat more fiber – number one tip for anyone looking to make themselves healthier through diet.

Melissa Joy (40:46):

Agree. You can’t go wrong with that. So, tell us about the prebiotic fiber ingredient that your company works with.

Hannah Ackermann (40:54):

Yeah, so I mentioned oligosaccharides, which is a class of prebiotic fibers, and that really has to do with the chain link. Many RDs (remember from clinical nutrition) oligo means few, so it’s a shorter chain. Our fiber is a little different, it’s a longer chain. It has a lot of innate diversity within it. It’s a polysaccharide in structure. And that longer and more diverse structure of it has many benefits.

One being, it’s digested later in the gut, which means it’s better tolerated. But when things are digested earlier in the smaller intestine, that’s where you get a lot of those bloating and not great side effects. When they’re fermented later, they have different health benefits and also, just some tolerance benefits.

The other nice thing about the longer chain is that from an applications perspective, so when we’re working with food companies on developing products with our fiber, it helps our fiber survive longer within the manufacturing process.

So, where other fibers will degrade in a lot of conditions that are low acidic or high heat, such as bottling, pasteurization, the fibers break down into sugar – opposite of what people would want when they’re looking to add fiber to something. Ours will survive those conditions, so you can put them in a lot more things.

And then there’s a couple different health benefits for our product. As I mentioned earlier, we have a metabolic health claim and a digestive health claim, and then it’s clinically shown to help support the growth of bifidobacteria. And it’s clinically shown to be well-tolerated, even if taken at 15 grams a day, which would be like five servings, because three grams is generally a serving of our product. And it’s FODMAP-friendly certified along with the tolerance.

Melissa Joy (42:29):

And what is it called?

Hannah Ackermann (42:31):

Our fiber is Arrabina, I should have probably led with that. Arrabina prebiotic dietary fiber. We are a B2B company, so if you see it on pack, it’s generally labeled as wheat fiber extract. Though it is gluten-free.

Melissa Joy (42:46):

Oh, interesting.

Hannah Ackermann (42:48):

Yeah, because it comes from the stalk of the wheat, the grain, and it’s the grain of the wheat that has protein and gluten. We just had the fiber part of the wheat, not the protein part.

Melissa Joy (42:58):

Interesting. And I understand that there’s this upcycled technology used to make it. Do you want to talk about that?

Hannah Ackermann (43:04):

Yeah, so that’s actually probably the most interesting thing about our company is from how it was founded. Our founder developed this technology where he saw all these wheat stocks and crop leftovers being left after harvest, and he thought there has to be a better use for this.

There is nutrition in these things being left behind, we just need to figure out a way to extract it in a profitable way. And he did. And he stumbled upon a Arabinoxylan, which is the fiber that Arrabina is mostly made of. And Arabinoxylan has a lot of different health benefits.

It’s been well-studied, but unfortunately, there wasn’t a way to produce it, isolate it easily until he was able to use this upcycling technology that he developed to harvest it.

Melissa Joy (43:49):

Interesting.

Hannah Ackermann (43:50):

So, yeah, it’s upcycled certified. Upcycling is a really interesting trend within the food industry. I think companies are being more mindful of the waste left behind when we produce food.

So, an example of upcycling would be when you make orange juice, the orange peels or all the fiber that’s just being put on the side of the manufacturing, what can we do with that? And there are uses for it. So, that’s an example of upcycling. If someone were to do something with the fiber and orange peels left.

It’s different than recycling because upcycling takes something and brings it to a higher state. So, a higher value thing versus recycling, you’re just reusing it in any way.

Melissa Joy (44:30):

Very cool. Is there anything else that you wanted to share? Something that I didn’t ask that we should touch on, and also, some bottom-line takeaways.

Hannah Ackermann (44:40):

I guess the first thing I would say is I know a lot of your audience are RDs or practitioners, and I really hope that RDs are going to be the go-to expert area for microbiome nutrition, prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, everything, just because it really can be a confusing area for consumers.

And unfortunately, there are a number of products on the market that probably have dubious health claims or overstate their health claims. So, I would advise anyone really interested in their gut health to talk to an RD or use RD resources, or some of the resources you use in your notes to understand these things.

I wouldn’t advise anyone just to get on Amazon and type in probiotic or something because what you get may not always be the high-quality ingredient you really want to have benefits. And I hate to see people try one prebiotic and then discount the entire category because of that experience.

So, something else I’m working on that maybe I’ll share with you when it comes out, but we’re about to publish some of the research we’ve done on our product in different settings, and it’s a really interesting trial design because it just shows how different prebiotics can have such different health benefits and microbe and metabolism benefits within a gut.

So, that research will hopefully be published by summer. So, I’m really excited to share that because I think it just helps reinforce the state that not all prebiotics are equal and that there really is unique, diverse benefits, which is why we need a unique and diverse amount of them.

Melissa Joy (46:10):

Excellent. Once that’s published, send it over to me and I’ll put that link into the show notes after the fact. So, yeah, we can always add to those anytime something new comes up.

Well, like I said, we have some really great resources in the show notes at soundbitesrd.com. There’s the comet-bio.com website. There’s a section on that site with the science, a news section, the trends report we’ll link directly to that. You can follow Hannah on LinkedIn.

And these three resources, the one that I’ve talked the most about is this GPA, which is the Global Prebiotic Association Healthcare Professional Guide to Prebiotics (it’s a chockfull of Information). There’s the ISAPP site (the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics).

And then you even have the International Probiotics Association link to infographics, fact sheets and documents, which I think would be really helpful for both healthcare practitioners and consumers. So, all of that will be in the show notes.

Hannah, thank you so much for coming on the show and educating us on everything prebiotic.

Hannah Ackermann (47:20):

Yeah, thank you so much for having us. It was fun to chat there.

Melissa Joy (47:22):

Absolutely. And for everybody listening, as always, enjoy your food with health in mind and some prebiotics. Till next time.

[Music Playing]

Voiceover (47:32):

For more information, visit soundbitesrd.com. This podcast does not provide medical advice. It is for informational purposes only. Please see a registered dietitian for individualized advice.

Music by Dave Birk, produced by Jag in Detroit Podcasts. Copyright, Sound Bites, Inc. All rights reserved.