The science of probiotics and health has moved beyond that of just digestive health to include support of more-specific focuses such as immunity, anti-inflammatory help, cardioprotective benefits, weight management, mitigation of asthma and allergy symptoms, improved mood, and even oral health. Probiotic bacteria and cultured foods range from dairy (such as yogurt and kefir, sour cream, cream cheese, and cottage cheese) to cultured fruit juices, beverages, and kombucha, to sauerkraut and cultured and fermented vegetables. All have made probiotics the No. 1 health ingredient for several years running. And new product applications are being launched almost daily, ranging from beer to pretzels.

Consumer awareness of the beneficial microbes designated as being probiotic, as well as cultured foods with active colonies of probiotic bacteria, is greater than ever, especially in regards to the consumer connection between probiotics and immunity. Product developers and manufacturers need to innovate not only within existing channels but must seek fresh channels in which to expand beyond their current consumer base.

New probiotic and cultured products will need to be created for an increasingly knowledgeable and sophisticated consumer. These products will be focused on addressing specific, individual needs, or on select demographics—infants, seniors, teens, men, women, athletes, et alia—in order to deliver a probiotic food or beverage that these consumers will want to enjoy every day.

The science, too, is critical: The key to any effective probiotic product is for the featured micro-organisms to survive processing, shipping, display, preparation, ingestion, and the upper digestive tract in order to settle in and form colonies of live, active beneficial bacteria in the lower digestive tract.

While pre- and probiotics often are considered separately, scientists are going to greater lengths to pair prebiotics—the oligo- and polysaccharide compounds such as fructo-oliggosaccharides, beta-glucans, and resistant starches that feed probiotic bacteria—with their best microbial matches in singular combinations called “synbiotics.”

New to the toolbox are postbiotics. Postbiotics are an emerging category of bioactive compounds that are trending in the “better for you” ingredient category. They can be any byproduct resulting from the action of probiotic bacteria. This includes both the beneficial fractions of the used up bacteria themselves, and the metabolites resulting from the fermentation and bacterial digestion of prebiotic fibers, starches, and gums. The idea behind added postbiotics is that, in addition to the microbes and their dinner of various fibers, benefit can be derived from ingredients that are the same as those beneficial ingredients produced by the microbes. These range from exopolysaccharides, plus enzymes, antimicrobial peptides, and cell surface proteins from the microbes themselves.

An example of the former are the aforementioned exopolysaccharide components that make up the bacterial structure. They have been shown to help modulate immunity and impart antioxidant capacity. An example of the latter would be short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), such as butyrate, propionate, and acetate, as vitamins B and K. SCFAs have demonstrated a number of beneficial capacities, such as helping to prevent colon cancer, balance metabolism, promote satiety and weight loss, balance blood pressure, and other health-supporting actions.

A number of research papers have supported their ability to aid in promoting satiety and blood sugar and blood lipid management, as well as their anti-inflammatory (especially regarding inflammatory bowel diseases), antioxidant, and even anti-cancer abilities. Phenylalanine-butyramide is a recently launched ingredient that helps increase butyrate in the bloodstream and has been shown in studies to be an effective anti-inflammatory agent.

Unlike probiotics, postbiotics are stable compounds that hold up during storage and processing. Moreover, phenylalanine-butyramide is an odorless, flavorless ingredient. This makes it and similar postbiotics to digestive health-targeting products easy to include in food and beverage formulations.

A successful food or beverage in this category must deliver not only on the organoleptic experience but on the physical benefit that is being marketed. The brands and products that succeed in the marketplace must be physiologically effective and use strains and counts that are backed by scientific research.

In this section, we offer detailed listings for suppliers of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics, & cultures. Click below for references by company name, headquarters, and website. (And don’t forget, those little probiotic microbes have to eat, so check out our listings of prebiotic fibers and starches in the category listing, Flours, Starches, Fibers, Gums.)