Postbiotics

Postbiotics contain inactivated microbial cells or cell components, with or without metabolites.

Microbes don’t have to be alive to have health benefits. A postbiotic is a preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that confers a health benefit on the host — in other words, whole or partial non-living microbes that can be consumed for their contribution to our health.

Postbiotics are often confused with metabolites (molecules produced by living microorganisms), but in reality metabolites by themselves do not qualify as postbiotics. To create a postbiotic, the living microbial cells must be deliberately killed or inactivated, and parts of the cells must remain in the preparation. The study of postbiotics is progressing rapidly within the field of biotics.

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  • Postbiotics: The concept and their use in healthy populations
    This review follows up on the 2021 scientific consensus definition of postbiotics, and focuses on evidence for the use of postbiotics in healthy populations.

  • Definition of postbiotics: A panel debate in Amsterdam
    By Dr. Gabriel Vinderola, PhD,  Associate Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering from the National University of…

  • What is a postbiotic?
    “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 Concept of Postbiotics
    This article examines different definitions of postbiotics that have emerged in past years and provides justification for the ISAPP 2021 definition: “a preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that confers a health benefit on the host”.

  • ISAPP’s Guiding Principles for the Definitions of ‘Biotics’
    By Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, ISAPP Executive Science Officer Articulating a definition for a scientific concept is a significant challenge….

  • Pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila as a postbiotic: EFSA approval and beyond
    By Prof. Seppo Salminen, University of Turku, Finland Earlier this year, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) delivered an opinion…

  • Should the concept of postbiotics make us see probiotics from a new perspective?
    By Dr. Gabriel Vinderola, PhD,  Associate Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering from the National University of…

  • Reply to: Postbiotics — when simplification fails to clarify
    This Correspondence addresses a response by Aguilar-Toalá et al. to the published ISAPP consensus statement on the definition and scope of postbiotics. The authors reinforce the arguments made in the original paper.

  • Probiotics, Prebiotics, Synbiotics, Postbiotics and Fermented Foods Defined

  • Bacterial vesicles: Emerging potential postbiotics
    By Dr. Gabriel Vinderola, PhD,  Associate Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering from the National University of…