Medical applications of prebiotics

The extreme importance of the microbial ecosystems of the mucous membranes and skin is universally recognized; in fact, these different microbiota produce more than half of the metabolites present in body fluids and play a major role in homeostasis. Conversely, when unbalanced, they can be the source of numerous pathological conditions: type II diabetes, obesity, inflammatory syndromes that can precede certain cancers, neurological pathologies, cardiovascular risks...

When this seems desirable, there are three possibilities for modulating or even modifying these microbiota: prebiotics, probiotics and symbiotics.

Probiotics provide living micro-organisms (bacteria, yeast), while prebiotics provide non- or partially degradable compounds: the prebiotics will be metabolized by the microbial component you wish to promote.

The last possibility is to combine probiotics such as bifidobacteria or lactobacilli with prebiotics, which these bacteria can selectively metabolize, giving them a clear advantage over others and significantly enhancing their growth. Such associations are known as symbiotic.