| Clinical investigations have demonstrated that lifestyle
factors, especially diet, are significantly associated with
a variety of diseases and the host’s health status. In this
regard, functional foods containing health-promoting
ingredients such as protein, carbohydrate, lipids,
vitamins, minerals, phenolic and bioactive components
(probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics)
have been attaining more significance by researchers,
producers and consumers.1,2 These functional foods
can be categorized as natural, transformed, fortified,
enhanced or enriched foods. A functional food with an
ingredient of bioactive components such as probiotics,
prebiotics, and postbiotics is considering as an enriched
food.3 Probiotics are the most investigated and applied
components in functional food supplements. Probiotics
are characterized as non-pathogenic microorganisms
that exert beneficial effects on the host when consumed in
sufficient quantities.4 Some of the recognized health effects
for probiotic supplements includes immunomodulation,
anticarcinogenic, effectiveness against diarrhea,
antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, and improvement of
lactose intolerance.5-7 Prebiotics are characterized
as non-digestible constituents of functional foods
(inulin, oligofructose, stachyose, oligosaccharides, and
raffinose) that not affected by human digestive enzymes
nonetheless it is fermented via colonized probiotics
in the large colon and promoting the colonization of
beneficial microbiota and subsequently improving the
health of the host.8 The main health-promoting effect of
prebiotic supplements on the host are decreased cancer
risk, balanced cholesterol levels, increased mineral
absorption, promote hormonal balance, lipid regulation,
lower risk for cardiovascular disease, decreased acute
gastroenteritis and lower autoimmune reactions.9 Along
with increasing consumer awareness, to optimize the
positive health effects of probiotics, functional foods
containing postbiotic compounds were introduced.
The term postbiotics (Nonbiotics) refers to all products
obtained from non-viable probiotic microorganisms
including non-viable microbial cells, cell walls, lysates,
fractions, secretions, components and metabolites
that when received in adequate quantities (postbiotic
supplements),10 endowment healthiness to the host
like live probiotic cells.11 The advantages of postbiotics
in terms of safety, biological and pharmaceutical
properties in comparison with live probiotics, includes
no risk of translocation from gut lumen to blood, suitable
absorption, metabolism, distribution, and excretion
potencies, signaling to various organs and tissues in the
host and making several biological responses, higher
stability and easier to standardize and carrying.12 On
the other hand, postbiotics used in a delivery system
reinforce the endogenous probiotics of each host instead
of adding unfamiliar probiotic strains to the gut microbial
ecosystem13 that can be consider as a safe alternative for
live probiotic microbes and applied in functional foods
and pharmaceutical industry for creating and developing
health benefits, preventing of diseases and therapeutic
aims. Additional metabolomics studies are required
for the description of novel postbiotic components and
survey their safety and constancy during the production
processes, marketplace, and host’s digestive system
conditions. |