Medical applications of postbiotics

As far back as antiquity, our ancestors believed that fermented foods were beneficial to health, particularly intestinal health. Since 2021, the considerable importance of commensal bacteria colonizing the human body has been unequivocally recognized, not only for our well-being but also to help resolve numerous pathological events. Until now, probiotics, which are living micro-organisms, were administered in adequate quantities with the aim of conferring a health benefit. But European regulation no. 2017/745 has just excluded probiotics from medical devices as a precautionary measure: these live bacteria are likely to induce infections such as sepsis, or transmit antibiotic resistance genes. To remedy these disadvantages, bacterial suspensions, particularly probiotics, have been heat-treated (in particular by pasteurization or tyndallization) to transform them into "inanimate" bacteria: postbiotics.

This article presents the benefits of postbiotics and their cell-free supernatants, which can also confer beneficial effects in various pathologies.