Prebiotics are a special class of functional food ingredients that resist digestion in the stomach and are selectively fermented in the colon (large intestine).
They are typically soluble fibers, however, other types of ingredients have been recently classified as prebiotic fibers; such as resistant starches and non-digestible sugars called oligosaccharides
While most prebiotics are dietary fibers, many dietary fibers are not prebiotics.
Not all dietary fibers are considered prebiotics, as some aren’t fermented by the gut at all, as is typical of non-soluble fiber, or aren’t selectively fermented, meaning they feed gut bacteria.