Natural Health: Probiotics

Q. My naturopath has given me prebiotics called FOS to take as well as probiotics to grow the good bacteria in my gut.

The FOS tastes sweeter than sugar and it seems to give me a lot of gas and bloating. Is this what is supposed to happen? I am taking these supplements to help with digestion, but it is having the opposite effect.

A. The term prebiotics was first coined almost 20 years ago, defined as “a non-digestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon that can improve the host health”.