These top 20 prebiotic fruits rock the highest levels for gut health, digestion, microbial diversity, detoxification, and more.
When it comes to gut health, few things are more powerful—and delicious—than prebiotic fruits. These natural powerhouses are rich in specific types of fiber that feed your gut bacteria, helping to optimize digestion, reduce inflammation, and boost everything from mood to immunity.
Unlike probiotics, which introduce new bacteria, prebiotics act like fertilizer, nourishing the healthy microbes you’ve already got.
Studies show that prebiotics reduce gut permeability, decrease allergy risk, boost the immune system, and produce bifidobacteria and lactobacillian strains. They also ramp metabolites, aid calcium absorption, and studies show they can help offset the absorption of perfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS.
Dr. Michael Greger wrote that “One of the deadliest things about our diets is not eating enough fruits. Worldwide, if humanity ate more fruits, we might save an estimated 1.7 million lives a year.”
20 Best Prebiotic Fruits
Here’s a list of the top 20 prebiotic fruits:
1. Green Bananas
Green bananas are one of the richest fruit sources of resistant starch, a type of prebiotic fiber that nourishes bacteria like bifidobacteria. A medium green banana rocks over four grams, including inulin.
Benefits include short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production—especially butyrate—which boosts colon health, reduces inflammation, and can help you lose weight.
Studies show that the resistant starch from green bananas improves blood sugar and can substantially nourish friendly microbes.
2. Avocados
A medium avocado delivers 9–10 grams of mostly soluble fiber, along with pectin, arabinose, and polyols that serve as fermentable prebiotics. Daily consumption enhances microbial diversity and boosts short-chain fatty acid production, especially acetate.
Happily they’re easy to add to your diet in foods like avocado smoothies, vegan wraps, guacamole, avocado toast, and salads. For more on avocado benefits go here.
3. Pears (with skin)
Pears are rich in inulin-type fructans and pectin, with a medium pear providing over five grams of fiber. They encourage the growth of bifidobacteria, aid stool bulk, and decrease transit time.
4. Strawberries
One cup of strawberries rocks roughly three grams of fiber, along with ellagitannins and fermentable sugars that act as prebiotics. They boost bifidobacteria populations and reduce oxidative stress in the gut lining. Studies show they increase microbial metabolites beneficial to colon health.
5. Raspberries
Raspberries lead the berry pack with about eight grams of fiber a cup, while most berries range between five and eight grams. They pack soluble prebiotic fiber, xyloglucans, and a diverse array of polyphenols. They also maintain microbial diversity and strengthen the gut lining.
Studies show they can significantly modulate the gut microbiome and boost short-chain fatty acids.
6. Blueberries
Blueberries rock around 3.5 grams of soluble fiber, xyloglucans, and a wide array of anthocyanin-rich polyphenols. Their compounds act as prebiotics—feeding gut bacteria and supporting the production of short-chain fatty acids.
Studies show that blueberries can reshape gut flora, enhance SCFA production, and help you lose weight.
Add them to smoothies, vegan yogurt, granola, porridge, pancakes, muffins, and more. Explore their benefits here.
7. Apples
Yummy apples 🍎 rock between two and four grams of fiber, with a significant amount being pectin, a powerful prebiotic. Pectin increases the population of Akkermansia muciniphila, a bacterium linked to weight loss and an improved gut lining. Studies show it significantly increases healthy gut bacteria and reduces inflammation.
8. Passion Fruit
Each passionfruit contains roughly five grams of fiber—mostly insoluble and pectin-based—making it exceptionally fiber-dense for its size. It boosts regularity, fosters gut diversity, and studies found that pectin from passionfruit ferments slowly, enabling sustained short-chain fatty acid release.
Rock in smoothies, chutney, homemade jams, and more.
9. Kiwis
Kiwis rocks around five grams of fiber a cup, including pectic polysaccharides and actinidin, which are shown to have prebiotic effects. They boost gut diversity, reduce constipation, and promote short-chain fatty acids. One study found they “enhance the growth of intestinal lactic acid bacteria.”
10. Dried Apricots
Dried apricots are gems! They rock over nine grams of prebiotic fiber a cup, including soluble fiber and polyphenols that help cleanse the colon. They definitely support microbial fermentation and produce Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, a key anti-inflammatory species.
Studies show their compounds lead to “an increase in beneficial bacteria, as well as an increase in the production of metabolites.”
11. Blackberries
Blackberries are microbiome gold. Just one cup sports between seven and eight grams of fiber, with much of it prebiotic—including soluble fiber and polyphenol compounds.
Studies show that blackberry phenols promote the growth of beneficial bacteria like bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, while also boosting short-chain fatty acid production.
Great in smoothies, pies, granola, porridge, pancakes, waffles, and more.
12. Cherries
Cherries are not only dope and packed with melatonin, they rock around three grams of fiber a cup, along with anthocyanins, polyphenols, and more. They boost biome diversity, the gut-brain connection, and studies show they shift gut flora and reduce inflammation.
13. Oranges
A medium orange packs over three grams of prebiotic fiber, mostly pectin, and flavonoids like hesperidin and naringenin. Studies show they curb anxiety, improve arterial function, and strengthen muscles. They also boost regularity and support the production of short-chain fatty acids.
14. Pomegranates
Pomegranates contain punicalagins and ellagitannins, which are transformed by gut microbes into urolithins, compounds that enhance gut and mitochondrial health. One fruit yields between three and four grams of prebiotic fiber.
15. Grapefruit
Half a grapefruit delivers about two grams of fiber, including naringin, a flavonoid with prebiotic properties that modulates the gut-brain axis. Studies have found that citrus flavonoids promote gut microbiota balance and anti-inflammatory activity.
16. Mangoes
A cup of mango provides about three grams of fiber, including compounds like galacto-oligosaccharides and mangiferin. Mangoes boost digestibility, the bacteria Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, and one study found they improve gut health and may offset chronic disease.
17. Dates
Dates are a powerhouse of prebiotic dietary fiber with about 12 grams of fiber a cup. A single cup of Deglet Noor dates rock over 14 grams! Most is insoluble, which promotes digestive regularity and helps sweep toxins from the colon.
Rich in natural sugars, dates also provide a quick energy boost while supporting blood sugar when combined with protein or healthy fats. They also pack antioxidants like flavonoids and phenolic acid, which support brain and heart health.
Studies show they may “enhance colon health by increasing beneficial bacterial growth and inhibiting the proliferation of colon cancer cells.”
According to Dr. Michael Greger, date sugar is one of the only “health-promoting caloric sweeteners.”
18. Prunes
Prunes are a great source of prebiotic fiber with about six grams a half cup. One report claimed they contain 10 times more prebiotics than kefir! They boost digestion and are easy to add to porridge, cookies, homemade granola, and more.
19. Amla
Amla, also known as Indian gooseberry, is known to be a good source of dietary fiber, especially pectin. Studies suggest that the pectin in amla acts as a prebiotic, nourishing the beneficial bacteria in the digestive system and supporting a healthy gut.
It rocks over four grams of fiber per 100 grams and is packed with antioxidants. One expert said it’s the most antioxidant-rich fruit on earth.
20. Papaya
Papaya is a good source of prebiotic fiber, particularly due to its pectin content—a type of soluble fiber that supports the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. A cup (about 140 grams) provides roughly three grams of fiber, a significant portion of which is fermentable prebiotics, and especially when the fruit is ripe.
Papaya is also rich in papain, a natural enzyme that aids in protein digestion, as well as vitamin C and beta-carotene, which boost skin health and immunity.
Takeaway
Adding some of these prebiotic-rich fruits to your diet is a huge win! 🍌 🍎 💚
Keep Reading
Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat Recipes
The medical and health topics covered on the PlateofGrass website and blog have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease. This article and its content is presented ‘as is’ for informational purposes only.
PlateofGrass may receive compensation if you make a purchase through a link on this site.
