From Pre- and Probiotics to Post-Biotics: A Narrative Review

Emidio Scarpellini, Emanuele Rinninella, Martina Basilico, Esther Colomier, Carlo Rasetti, Tiziana Larussa, Pierangelo Santori and Ludovico Abenavoli
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Emidio Scarpellini: Internal Medicine Unit, “Madonna del Soccorso” General Hospital, 63074 San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy
Emanuele Rinninella: UOC di Nutrizione Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy
Martina Basilico: Internal Medicine Unit, “Madonna del Soccorso” General Hospital, 63074 San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy
Esther Colomier: TARGID, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Carlo Rasetti: Internal Medicine Unit, “Madonna del Soccorso” General Hospital, 63074 San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy
Tiziana Larussa: Department of Health Sciences, Magna Græcia University, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy
Pierangelo Santori: Internal Medicine Unit, “Madonna del Soccorso” General Hospital, 63074 San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy
Ludovico Abenavoli: Department of Health Sciences, Magna Græcia University, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Background and aims: gut microbiota (GM) is a complex ecosystem containing bacteria, viruses, fungi, and yeasts. It has several functions in the human body ranging from immunomodulation to metabolic. GM derangement is called dysbiosis and is involved in several host diseases. Pre-, probiotics, and symbiotics (PRE-PRO-SYMB) have been extensively developed and studied for GM re-modulation. Herein, we review the literature data regarding the new concept of postbiotics, starting from PRE-PRO-SYMB. Methods: we conducted a search on the main medical databases for original articles, reviews, meta-analyses, randomized clinical trials, and case series using the following keywords and acronyms and their associations: gut microbiota, prebiotics, probiotics, symbiotic, and postbiotics. Results: postbiotics account for PRO components and metabolic products able to beneficially affect host health and GM. The deeper the knowledge about them, the greater their possible uses: the prevention and treatment of atopic, respiratory tract, and inflammatory bowel diseases. Conclusions: better knowledge about postbiotics can be useful for the prevention and treatment of several human body diseases, alone or as an add-on to PRE-PRO-SYMB.

Keywords: gut microbiota; prebiotics; probiotics; symbiotic; postbiotics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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