Ginger, black pepper and holy basil, mainstays in traditional medicines as anti-inflammatories, also contain significant prebiotic potential that could help gut health, report researchers from India’s National Institute of Nutrition, in Hyderabad. Holy basil (Ocimum sanctum) and ginger (Zingiber officinale) showed significantly higher prebiotic activity, especially of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species, when compared to the well-known prebiotic fructooligosaccharide (FOS). Black pepper (Piper Nigrum) had prebiotic effects similar to FOS.

This article appears in the March 2019 issue of Natural Awakenings.