Abstract
Aims
The concept of using specific dietary components to selectively modulate the gut microbiota to confer a health benefit, defined as prebiotics, originated in 1995. In 2018, a group of scientists met at the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics annual meeting in Singapore to discuss advances in the prebiotic field, focussing on issues affecting functionality, research methodology, and geographical differences.
Methods and Results
The discussion ranged from examining scientific literature supporting the efficacy of established prebiotics, to the prospects for establishing health benefits associated with novel compounds, isolated from different sources.
Conclusions
While many promising candidate prebiotics from across the globe have been highlighted in preliminary research, there are a limited number with both demonstrated mechanism of action and defined health benefits as required to meet the prebiotic definition.
Prebiotics are part of a food industry with increasing market sales, yet there are great disparities in regulations in different countries. Identification and commercialisation of new prebiotics with unique health benefits means that regulation must improve and remain up‐to‐date so as not to risk stifling research with potential health benefits for humans and other animals.
Significance and Impact of Study
This summary of the workshop discussions indicates potential avenues for expanding the range of prebiotic substrates, delivery methods to enhance health benefits for the end consumer, and guidance to better elucidate their activities in human studies.
The concept of using specific dietary components to selectively modulate the gut microbiota to confer a health benefit, defined as prebiotics, originated in 1995. In 2018, a group of scientists met at the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics annual meeting in Singapore to discuss advances in the prebiotic field, focussing on issues affecting functionality, research methodology, and geographical differences.
Methods and Results
The discussion ranged from examining scientific literature supporting the efficacy of established prebiotics, to the prospects for establishing health benefits associated with novel compounds, isolated from different sources.
Conclusions
While many promising candidate prebiotics from across the globe have been highlighted in preliminary research, there are a limited number with both demonstrated mechanism of action and defined health benefits as required to meet the prebiotic definition.
Prebiotics are part of a food industry with increasing market sales, yet there are great disparities in regulations in different countries. Identification and commercialisation of new prebiotics with unique health benefits means that regulation must improve and remain up‐to‐date so as not to risk stifling research with potential health benefits for humans and other animals.
Significance and Impact of Study
This summary of the workshop discussions indicates potential avenues for expanding the range of prebiotic substrates, delivery methods to enhance health benefits for the end consumer, and guidance to better elucidate their activities in human studies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 934-949 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Journal of Applied Microbiology |
| Volume | 128 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 12 Sept 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the science of probiotics and prebiotics activity. The Rowett Institute (KPS) receives financial support from the Scottish Government (RESAS). RG was employed by the University of Reading during this work but is now employed at GSK.
Keywords
- Prebiotics
- ISAPP
- gut fermentation
- microbiome
- health benefits
- prebiotics
Access to Document
- Accepted Manuscript
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Scott, K., Grimaldi, R., Cunningham, M., Sarbini, S., Wijeyesekera, A., Tang, M., Lee, J.‐Y., Yau, Y., Ansell, J., Theis, S., Yang, K., Menon, R., Arfsten, J., Manurung, S., Gourineni, V. and Gibson, G. (2020), Developments in understanding and applying prebiotics in research and practice—an ISAPP conference paper. J Appl Microbiol, 128: 934-949., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.14424. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.