As such, evidence on each of them might be different and there is a tremendous amount of data on specific probiotic strains accompanied by a large diversity in study outcomes. Notably, health effects of probiotics are very strain and disease specific, as reviewed elsewhere. and Bifidobacterium spp., which have the status of being generally regarded as safe (GRAS). The majority of the probiotic products contain a defined and limited list of microbial taxa, which mostly include lactic acid bacteria (LAB) such as Lactobacillus spp. These terms, and their synonyms started to appear after 1986 and the use of these terms is increasing as shown in Figure 1.īased on a 2001 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – World Health Organization (FAO-WHO) expert group consensus statement, probiotics, can be defined as ‘live microorganisms, which when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host’. In many of these studies the term ‘postbiotics’ is used, some studies describe applications termed ‘paraprobiotics’, ‘non-viable microbial cells’ and ‘fermented infant formulas’ (FIFs) that fit the definition of postbiotics. Since 5 years reports on postbiotic products are emerging. Postbiotics include microbial cells, cell constituents and metabolites.Īs an indication of the growing interest in nutritional strategies to modulate the gut microbiota, the number of papers reporting research in probiotics and prebiotics shows a steep increase over the past 40 years. The newest member of the biotics family, postbiotics, refers to bioactive compounds produced by food-grade microorganisms during a fermentation process.
Prebiotics, probiotics and synbiotics can modulate the gut microbiota composition and its activity and also have direct effects the immune response. The term ‘biotic’ is derived from the Greek word biōtikós, meaning ‘pertaining to life’, and refers to the biological ecosystem made up of living organisms together with their physical environment. The term ‘-biotics’ refers to nutritional strategies that can be utilized to direct the gut microbiota towards a more favorable state for host health. Gut microbiota composition and function can be modulated in several ways. Īlthough more research is required to determine the exact roles of the gut microbiota in specific aspects of health and disease, the microbiota composition is strongly correlated with a range of diseases and has become an important target for therapy and nutrition. These interactions are vital for shaping the host microbial symbiosis and the establishment of stable communities that are health promoting and resilient to perturbation throughout life. Such relations are referred to as the host-microbe and microbial community interactions, and will be discussed later in this review. The members of the gut microbiota also produce a wide range of compounds that can be used by both the host and by other microorganisms. With this mostly mutualistic relationship, the gut microbiota influence a multitude of physiological functions in the host, often mediated via the host’s immune system. The microbial habitat within the human gastro-intestinal tract is the site of a complex and dynamic mutualistic relationship between the gut microbiota and the host. Research to date indicates that postbiotics can have direct immunomodulatory and clinically relevant effects and evidence can be found for the use of postbiotics in healthy individuals to improve overall health and to relief symptoms in a range of diseases such as infant colic and in adults atopic dermatitis and different causes of diarrhea.
Here we propose a working definition and review currently known postbiotic compounds, their proposed mechanisms, clinical evidence and potential applications. Where consensus exists for the definitions of pre- and probiotics, this is not yet the case for postbiotics. Postbiotics is also a rather new term in the ‘-biotics’ field. Therefore, postbiotics can include many different constituents including metabolites, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), microbial cell fractions, functional proteins, extracellular polysaccharides (EPS), cell lysates, teichoic acid, peptidoglycan-derived muropeptides and pili-type structures. The term postbiotics can be regarded as an umbrella term for all synonyms and related terms of these microbial fermentation components.
Postbiotics are functional bioactive compounds, generated in a matrix during fermentation, which may be used to promote health.
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