Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Postbiotics — when simplification fails to clarify

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 18, pages 825–826 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

We appreciate the intent by Salminen et al. to clarify and reorganize the nomenclature regarding the use of inactivated bacteria and their products as health-promoting factors (Salminen, S. et al. The International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) consensus statement on the definition and scope of postbiotics. Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 18, 649–667 (2021))1. Nonetheless, we found several major caveats in the consensus statement (Box 1) that might generate ambiguity.

  • Disagreement with the proposed new definition of postbiotic: the ISAPP consensus statement1 proposes a common term to simultaneously indicate inactivated microorganisms and their specific products or components, which, in our opinion, generates confusion as well-defined molecular factors cannot be distinguished from complex (undefined) matrices derived from microbial cells.

  • Review of the available scientific literature: the nomenclature adopted by the scientific literature in the past 10 years concerning inactivated microorganisms and their molecules and/or factors has been, in our opinion, mostly overlooked or misinterpreted. In particular, we believe the meaning most commonly attributed to the word ‘postbiotic’ in scientific literature has been ignored.

  • Stability of products including inactivated microorganisms: the ISAPP’s document stated that “products with a long shelf life can be readily achieved for inanimate microorganisms” also in “geographical regions that do not have reliable cold chains or whose ambient temperature causes problems for storage of live microorganisms”, concluding that products containing inactivated microorganisms can “likely be extremely stable for several years at room temperature”. This claim is potentially unrealistic as the shelf life of any food, supplement or drug is influenced by its constituents (inorganic, organic or enzymatic) that inevitably participate to processes profoundly affecting stability (such as enzymatic modifications, Maillard reactions or oxidations), especially when temperature is not controlled, unsuitable packaging is implemented and/or improper storage conditions are adopted.

  • Valid markers of efficacy in products containing inactivated microorganisms are needed. It is of pivotal importance that a valid parameter is selected to test a preparation including inactivated microbial cells to effectively prove the preservation of the efficacy (that is, its health-promoting property) during the shelf life. This point is particularly challenging and should have been discussed further.

  • Use of the word “inanimate”: the word “inanimate” is not generally used in the field of microbiology with the meaning proposed by the ISAPP’s consensus statement. The proposed explanation that ‘inanimate’ should be a better wording to indicate non-viable or dead microorganisms because ‘inactivated’ could erroneously be intended as “an inert material”1 does not seem to have a scientific need.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Salminen, S. et al. The International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) consensus statement on the definition and scope of postbiotics. Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 18, 649–667 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Tsilingiri, K. & Rescigno, M. Postbiotics: what else? Benef. Microbes 4, 101–107 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Aguilar-Toalá, J. E. et al. Postbiotics: an evolving term within the functional foods field. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 75, 105–114 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Patel, R. M. & Denning, P. W. Therapeutic use of prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis: what is the current evidence? Clin. Perinatol. 40, 11–25 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Collado, M. C., Vinderola, G. & Salminen, S. Postbiotics: facts and open questions. A position paper on the need for a consensus definition. Benef. Microbes 10, 711–719 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mantziari, A., Salminen, S., Szajewska, H. & Malagon-Rojas, J. N. Postbiotics against pathogens commonly involved in pediatric infectious diseases. Microorganisms 8, 1510 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Taverniti, V. & Guglielmetti, S. The immunomodulatory properties of probiotic microorganisms beyond their viability (ghost probiotics: proposal of paraprobiotic concept). Genes Nutr. 6, 261–274 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Transformation and Emerging Technologies in Foods, National Autonomous University of Mexico, FES-Cuautitlan, Mexico

    José Eleazar Aguilar-Toalá

  2. Division of Food Microbiology and Bioprocesses, Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Stefania Arioli, Simone Guglielmetti, Diego Mora & Valentina Taverniti

  3. Dairy Microbiology Division, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute Karnal, Karnal, Haryana, India

    Pradip Behare

  4. Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands

    Clara Belzer

  5. Department of Translational Medical Science, ImmunoNutritionLab at CEINGE Advanced Biotechnologies Research Center, European Laboratory for the Investigation of Food Induced Diseases, Task Force for Microbiome Studies — University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy

    Roberto Berni Canani

  6. Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, MICALIS UMR1319, Jouy-en-Josas, France

    Jean-Marc Chatel, Philippe Langella, Rebeca Martin & Harry Sokol

  7. Allergy Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Vittore Buzzi Children’s Hospital, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Enza D’Auria

  8. Faculty of Veterinary, Federal University Fluminense, Niterói, Brazil

    Mônica Queiroz de Freitas, Erick Almeida Esmerino & Jonas de Toledo Guimarães

  9. Immunology department, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

    Eran Elinav

  10. Microbiome and Cancer Division, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany

    Eran Elinav

  11. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de Alimentos, TecMN-Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico

    Hugo S. García

  12. Department of Food, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Adriano Gomes da Cruz

  13. Laboratorio de Química y Biotecnología de Productos Lácteos, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo A.C., Hermosillo, Mexico

    Aarón F. González-Córdova, Adrián Hernández-Mendoza & Belinda Vallejo-Cordoba

  14. Department of Food Science, Protein Chemistry & Bioactive Peptides Lab, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Andrea M. Liceaga

  15. Laboratory of Microbial Processes in Foods, Department of Food Engineering, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil

    Marciane Magnani

  16. Borneo Marine Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sabah, Malaysia

    Mohammad Tamrin Mohamad Lal

  17. Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

    Mehran Moradi

  18. Department for Sustainable Food Processes, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy

    Lorenzo Morelli

  19. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico (IRCCS), Milan, Italy

    Fabio Mosca

  20. Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Fabio Mosca

  21. Institute of Food Science — Italian National Research Council, Avellino, Italy

    Filomena Nazzaro

  22. Federal Institute of Paraná, Campus Paranavaí, Paraná, Brazil

    Tatiana Colombo Pimentel

  23. Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Feed Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

    Chao Ran

  24. School of Agriculture & Food, Faculty of Veterinary & Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Chaminda Senaka Ranadheera

  25. IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan, Italy

    Maria Rescigno

  26. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele, Italy

    Maria Rescigno

  27. IDIBAPS, CIBEREHD, Barcelona, Spain

    Azucena Salas

  28. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

    Anderson S. Sant’Ana

  29. Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, State University of São Paulo (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil

    Katia Sivieri

  30. Sorbonne Université, INSERM, Centre de Recherche Saint-Antoine, CRSA, AP-HP, Saint Antoine Hospital, Gastroenterology Department, Paris, France

    Harry Sokol

  31. Paris Center for Microbiome Medicine (PaCeMM) FHU, Paris, France

    Harry Sokol

  32. Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Prague, Czechia

    Jaroslav Zelenka

  33. China-Norway Joint Lab on Fish Gastrointestinal Microbiota, Institute of Feed Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhigang Zhou

Authors
  1. José Eleazar Aguilar-Toalá
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stefania Arioli
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Pradip Behare
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Clara Belzer
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Roberto Berni Canani
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jean-Marc Chatel
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Enza D’Auria
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Mônica Queiroz de Freitas
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Eran Elinav
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Erick Almeida Esmerino
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Hugo S. García
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Adriano Gomes da Cruz
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Aarón F. González-Córdova
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Simone Guglielmetti
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Jonas de Toledo Guimarães
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Adrián Hernández-Mendoza
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Philippe Langella
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Andrea M. Liceaga
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Marciane Magnani
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Rebeca Martin
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Mohammad Tamrin Mohamad Lal
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Diego Mora
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Mehran Moradi
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Lorenzo Morelli
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  25. Fabio Mosca
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  26. Filomena Nazzaro
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  27. Tatiana Colombo Pimentel
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  28. Chao Ran
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  29. Chaminda Senaka Ranadheera
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  30. Maria Rescigno
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  31. Azucena Salas
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  32. Anderson S. Sant’Ana
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  33. Katia Sivieri
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  34. Harry Sokol
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  35. Valentina Taverniti
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  36. Belinda Vallejo-Cordoba
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  37. Jaroslav Zelenka
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  38. Zhigang Zhou
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Simone Guglielmetti, Lorenzo Morelli, Maria Rescigno or Valentina Taverniti.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

S.A. has research projects sponsored by Sofar, Sacco, Sanofi and Actial Farmaceutica. P.B. has been receiving grants from Ministry of Food Processing Industries for health-promoting exopolysaccharides derived from lactic and probiotic bacteria. C.B. has led research projects sponsored by several industry partners such as Danone-Nutrica, FreislandCampina and Sensus. R.B.C. had the following relevant financial relationships with the following manufacturers: Ch.Hansen (research grant, speaker), iHealth (research grant), Humana (research grant), Kraft-Heinz (research grant, speaker), Mead Johnson Nutrition (research grant, speaker), Nestlè (research grant, speaker), Novalac (research grant), Nutricia (research grant, speaker) and Sofar (research grant) as part of publically funded research projects with the support of the Italian Ministry of Health. E.E. is the founding scientist of DayTwo and BiomX. None of the activities of these entities is related to the topics presented in this commentary. S.G. has led research projects sponsored by several industry partners such as Sofar, 7 Inv, Sacco, Metis Healthcare, Giellepi and Perfetti-Van Melle. S.G. is a consultant for Sofar and Perfetti Van Melle. S.G. receives royalties from the sale of probiotic bacterial strains. P.L. has led research projects with several agro-food (Danone, General Mills, Dupond and Lallemand), food supplements (Pilèje), biotech (Ysopia) and pharmaceutical (Biocodex and Merck) companies and is a co-founder of Exeliom bioscience. M. Magnani has participated in research projects sponsored by industrial partners such as Farmoquímica and Danone Nutricia, the latter not for study of probiotics. D.M. is in the Scientific Advisory Board of Actial Farmaceutica. L.M. is consultant at Bayer, Ferrero, Sanofi and DSM and shareholder in Advanced Analytical Technologies. F.N. participated in a research project funded by Eurolactis (Luxemburg). M.R. has received funding for research collaborations by Kraft-Heinz; Gelesis; and AlfaSigma. She is in the advisory board of MillBo and Gelesis. She is founder and CSO of Postbiotica. K.S. has projects sponsored by industrial partners such as Nestlé and Danone Nutricia, the latter not for the study of probiotics or prebiotics. H.S. received unrestricted study grants from Danone, Biocodex and Enterome; board membership, consultancy, or lecture fees from Carenity, Abbvie, Astellas, Danone, Ferring, Mayoly Spindler, M.S.D., Novartis, Roche, Tillots, Enterome, Maat, BiomX, Biose, Novartis and Takeda; and is a co-founder of Exeliom bioscience. V.T. receives royalties from the sale of viable and inactivated probiotic bacterial strains. M. Moradi declares that he has no task or primary function other than the research and education in his university/country. The other authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Aguilar-Toalá, J.E., Arioli, S., Behare, P. et al. Postbiotics — when simplification fails to clarify. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 18, 825–826 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-021-00521-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-021-00521-6

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology