Chapter 2 · The names · 0:54
Three words that are not the same
Prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics: what each one is and how they differ.
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Transcript
Prebiotics · probiotics · postbiotics: how do they differ? Microbiota and gut health: three words that are not the same.
Concept 1 of 3 · Prebiotics. Non-digestible substances such as fibre. They are the food, not microorganisms: they feed the good bacteria already there.
Concept 2 of 3 · Probiotics. Live microorganisms, given in adequate amounts. They must survive and colonise to help.
Concept 3 of 3 · Postbiotics. Produced by fermentation in culture, then inactivated, and ingested ready-made: dead cells, their parts and metabolites.
Components of a postbiotic. [An inactivated cell with its parts labelled.] The intact inanimate cell keeps its structure; cell wall fragments (peptidoglycans, teichoic acids); metabolites (organic acids, peptides, bacteriocins). It is the set of molecules, not the live cell.
The chain that links them · from fibre to metabolite. Non-digestible fibre (prebiotic) is fermented in culture by the bacteria, which produce short-chain fatty acids (postbiotic). What the fibre starts, the postbiotic finishes.
Pre · pro · post: three concepts, three natures. Prebiotic: food. Probiotic: alive and colonising. Postbiotic: ready-made, stable.
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