The Current and Future Perspectives of Postbiotics

Abstract

With the emphasis on intestinal health, probiotics have exploded into a vast market potential. However, new scientific evidence points out that the beneficial health benefits of probiotics are not necessarily directly related to viable bacteria. However, the metabolites or bacterial components of the live bacteria are the driving force behind health promotion. Therefore, scientists gradually noticed that the beneficial effects of probiotics are based on bacteria itself, metabolites, or cell lysates, and these factors are officially named “postbiotics” by the ISAPP. Postbiotic components are diverse and outperform live probiotics in terms of technology, safety, and cost due to their good absorption, metabolism, and organismal distribution. Postbiotics have been shown to have bioactivities such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, and immunomodulation. Moreover, numerous studies have revealed the significant potential of postbiotics for disease treatment. This paper first presents the production and classification of postbiotics with examples from lactic acid bacteria (LAB), followed by the mechanisms of action with the most recent pre-clinical and clinical studies and the wide range of non-clinical and clinical applications of postbiotics. Furthermore, the current and future prospects of the postbiotic market with commercial available products are discussed. Finally, we comment on the knowledge gaps and future clinical applications with several examples.

Bifidobacterium longum LBUX23 Isolated from Feces of a Newborn; Potential Probiotic Properties and Genomic Characterization

“…We found weak inhibition of K. pneumoniae MDR, P. mirabilis MDR, P. aeruginosa XDR, and E. coli ATCC 25922. The antimicrobial effects observed are likely attributed to the synthesis of antimicrobial compounds, including organic acids, hydrogen peroxide, ethanol, diacetyl, acetaldehyde, saturated or unsaturated free fatty acids, and other substances such as peptides and bacteriocins [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. Additionally, we hypothesized that the possible advantage of this strain is the activity against emerging pathogens shown, not in the regard of being used during the infection, but instead in the sense of being used as a probiotic favoring self-defense from the gastrointestinal tract, decreasing the probability of an emerging pathogen attacking the host; however, this would have to be demonstrated in an in vivo study.…”

The Crucial Roles of Diet, Microbiota, and Postbiotics in Colorectal Cancer

“…The safety profile of probiotics in vulnerable and immunocompromised patients, the risk of developing antibiotic resistance and virulence gene transfer, the existence of problems with maintaining viability and stability during production and storage, and the demonstration that health benefits are not necessarily directly related to viable cells have led researchers to study of non-viable cells, especially heat-killed microorganisms, cell extracts, components, and metabolites [ 16 , 92 – 94 ]. Before 2021, The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) definition of postbiotics, researchers named them “cell-free supernatant,” “metabiotic,” “paraprobiotic,” “biogenic,” “ghost probiotics,” “abiotic,” “pseudoprobiotic,” and “postbiotic.” In 2019, ISAPP convened a panel of experts specializing in nutrition, microbial physiology, gastroenterology, pediatrics, food science, and microbiology to review and clarify the definition and scope of postbiotics.…”

“…The molecular characterization of progenitor microorganisms must be determined to ensure accurate identification and screening of potential genes of safety concern.” [ https://isappscience.org/ , Date of Access: 07.10.2023]. It is suggested that postbiotics are more advantageous than probiotics due to their stability in industrial processes and storage, long shelf life, not requiring a cold chain, more reliable profile in terms of health, and not having the risk of developing antibiotic resistance [ 14 , 16 , 69 , 92 – 98 ].…”

“…Techniques such as heat treatment, enzymatic processes, chemical treatments, sonication, hyperbaric conditions, and solvent extraction—either individually or in combination—are applied to inactivate microorganisms to produce postbiotics. Separating the desired postbiotics from the resulting solutions is subjected to steps such as centrifugation, dialysis, lyophilization, and column purification [ 92 •].…”

Both live and heat killed Lactiplantibacillus plantarum DPUL-F232 alleviate whey protein-induced food allergy by regulating cellular immunity and repairing the intestinal barrier

“…23 Compared with probiotics, postbiotics have outstanding advantages. Postbiotics are predicted to be safer than probiotics, because they lost the ability to replicate and migrate, 24 and the drug-resistance genes will not be transmitted either, 25 which do not cause bacteremia or mycosis. 26 An important factor to promote the interest in postbiotics is their stability during processing and storage.…”