Reference dossier Microbiome, biotics & ingredients
Microbiome & ingredients: what you need to decide.
The gut microbiome has moved from research topic to category engine: pro-, pre- and postbiotics now run through functional nutrition, snacking and beverages. This dossier connects our sourced insights — scientific mechanisms, market signals, the EFSA regulatory frame — for R&D and marketing decision-makers.
The three families, in one diagram
PrebioticsThe substrates — fibres that feed the micro-organisms.
ProbioticsLive micro-organisms, delivered in adequate amounts.
PostbioticsCompounds produced by fermentation — active without a live micro-organism.
Read the insight: postbiotics, probiotics, prebiotics — what market?
01 — The science
Mechanisms: what the research actually establishes.
From the gut–brain axis to contaminant effects, every insight rests on published studies — and ends with what it changes for an ingredient portfolio.
- Can the brain modify the microbiota in two hours? — interview with Prof. Patrice D. Cani
- Patrice Cani, Francqui Prize 2026: health through the microbiome
- Fibre and the brain: the gut–cognition axis
- Microbiota and appetite: when bacteria influence satiety
- Beige fat: the microbiome as a metabolic lever
- Oats and LDL: the microbiome-mediated dose effect
- Plant or animal protein: the microbial fingerprint of the source
- Evening meals and the gut’s circadian clock
- When the microbiome slows children’s growth
- 168 contaminants identified as toxic to the microbiome
- GMFH Summit: food, drugs and the gut microbiome
02 — The market
Pro-, pre-, postbiotics: where the value goes.
03 — Regulatory