What is a postbiotic?
Some microorganisms can deliver benefits even when they’re not alive. Postbiotics is the scientific name for mixtures that contain inactivated microorganisms, either whole or in pieces. To create a postbiotic, you start with a live microorganism, such as a bacterium or yeast. Then the microorganism must be killed or inactivated using a technique such as heat or ultraviolet light. The resulting mixture should deliver a health benefit when consumed, as shown in a scientific study. Purified molecules (metabolites) made by bacteria are not considered postbiotics, as they have their own chemical names that need not specify their relationship with microorganisms.
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Video Transcript
We hear much these days about how important our microbiota is to our health.
It’s a very active area of research.
Scientists have found that the microbes that make up our microbiota benefit us in many ways, including helping to digest our food, regulating our immune system, and protecting us from disease-causing microbes.
We also hear a lot about probiotics, which are microorganisms shown to confer health benefits when they are administered alive.
But researchers are now finding that some microbes that are not alive can also provide health benefits.
“Postbiotics” is a term for formulations that contain inactivated microorganisms, either whole or in fragments.
The term postbiotic is derived from “biotic”, meaning living things, and “post”, meaning after. So ‘post-biotic’ means ‘after life’.
The scientific definition of postbiotics is “a preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that confers a health benefit on the host”.
To make a postbiotic, you must start with a live microorganism, such as a bacterium or yeast.
That microorganism might be a proven probiotic, but it doesn’t have to be.
Next, inactivate that microbe. The inactivation step may be heat, UV light, sonication, or any deliberate treatment that inactivates the microbe.
The inactivation step may also break up the microbial cells into cell fragments, such as bacterial cell walls or other cell structures.
In addition to inactivated microbial cells, postbiotics may also contain products from cell growth, such as lactic or acetic acid, bacteriocins, or enzymes.
However, if these products from cell growth are purified from the inactivated cells – such as microbe-derived short chain fatty acids – they are not postbiotics, as they have their own chemical names.
Cells or cell fragments must be present as well.
Once produced, the postbiotic preparation needs to be rigorously tested and shown to have a health benefit in humans or other target hosts.
Examples of commercial postbiotics, which must be shown deliver a health benefit,
include heat-treated fermented infant formulas, heat-treated lactobacilli to treat diarrhea and some yeast products used in animal feed.
And similar to probiotics, postbiotics may impact body sites other than the gut, such as the vaginal tract or skin.
Although research on postbiotics is still fairly new and limited, the inactivated components of living microbes may in fact be partially responsible for some of the health benefits we attribute to probiotics, such as development and regulation of the immune system and their support of a healthy microbiota.
Scientists have also learned that some structures on the surfaces of dead microbes have the ability to interact with human cells and impact immune function.
They continue to study the mechanisms of action for postbiotics, to learn when an inactivated microbe is able to confer a health effect.
Further research into postbiotics will unveil new light on the relationship between humans and the symbiotic microbes that call our bodies home.
Please see accompanying information at ISAPPscience.org or ask for recommendations by your doctor or healthcare provider.
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