Most of them "live" in the digestive tract and reproductive system of human body, which can enhance human health in many ways and produce clear health care functions, such as improving the composition and structure of intestinal microorganisms, regulating human immune function and preventing or alleviating the occurrence of various diseases. For example, probiotics can prevent Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea and assist in the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection in the stomach.
At present, most probiotic strains that can be used for industrial production of food and dietary supplements belong to Lactobacillus (such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei), Bifidobacterium (such as Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium animalis, Bifidobacterium infantis and Bifidobacterium thermophilus), Streptococcus thermophilus and Kluyveromyces max. There are more than 20 kinds of common probiotics in China.
It is particularly important to emphasize that probiotics are strain-specific, that is to say, when we talk about probiotics, we must know the strain number (such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus Lr-32, Bifidobacterium longum BB536, etc. ), otherwise it will be inaccurate.
In addition, because most probiotics are anaerobic bacteria, they may die in the process of passing through the stomach and small intestine after being taken orally by the human body. Only in a large number of cases, or after better coating treatment, a very small number of "lucky" can enter the large intestine to survive, so taking probiotic preparations needs to pay special attention to the following two points:
① Generally, warm boiled water or warm milk should be taken after meals to avoid excessive water temperature;
② Live bacteria preparation should be taken together with antacids, antibacterial drugs and medicinal activated carbon. It may weaken the curative effect and should be avoided or at least 2 hours apart.
What is a prebiotic?
After learning about "probiotics", let's talk about its good partner "prebiotics".
The concept of prebiotics was put forward by Glenn Gibson, the "father of prebiotics", which refers to some organic substances (generally non-starch polysaccharides or oligosaccharides) that can selectively promote the metabolism and proliferation of beneficial bacteria in the body without being digested and absorbed by the host, thus improving the health status of the host.
According to "prebiotics and Health Expert Knowledge" published by China Nutrition Society in 20021,prebiotics are a kind of food ingredients that can not be absorbed and utilized by human body, but can be selectively utilized by specific microorganisms (such as intestinal beneficial bacteria), thus bringing health benefits to the host.
Although prebiotics can not directly act on the body, they can promote the growth and reproduction of probiotics and inhibit the colonization and growth of pathogenic bacteria in the intestine, thus improving the intestinal microecology. Generally speaking, prebiotics are the "nutrition" or "food" of probiotics.
For example, galactooligosaccharides can promote the growth of bifidobacteria and can be fermented into short-chain fatty acids by intestinal flora, thus contributing to the improvement of intestinal physiological functions. Moreover, some prebiotics can improve calcium absorption, promote bone health, help improve stool characteristics and frequency, promote nutritional metabolism, and even act on the immune system, reducing the risk of infection and allergies.
According to the latest definition of the International Probiotics and Probiotics Association (ISAPP), oligosaccharides and polysaccharides such as inulin (as shown in the figure below), fructooligosaccharides and galactooligosaccharides, plant extracts, polyunsaturated fatty acids and phenols can be used as prebiotics, but those oligosaccharides in the classical definition have a higher level of evidence.
At present, most prebiotics are used as food additives to make spreads, dairy products, biscuits, chocolates and cereals, and lactulose is a common prebiotic ingredient in hospitals. In addition, prebiotics also exist in many natural high-fiber foods, such as some fruits, vegetables and grains.
From the definition of probiotics and metazoa, probiotics emphasize live bacteria, while metazoa contain no live bacteria, that is, microbial cells are intentionally inactivated in some way, mainly including inactivated bacteria, bacterial metabolites and bacterial cell lysate. Because metazoa do not contain viable bacteria, they naturally have the characteristics of high safety and stability, which solves the difficulties encountered in the application of probiotics and greatly expands the commercial types and applicable scenarios of metazoa.
Generally, traditional live probiotics need to go through the traditional trilogy to play a healthy role in the human body.
The first part: embedding technology is needed to protect live bacteria from passing through gastric acid and bile salts smoothly.
The second part: the intestine needs a good flora, so that these living bacteria can settle in the intestine smoothly.
Part III: It takes 48~72 hours for these living bacteria to produce metabolites with health care function for human body.
What we usually call dead bacteria refers to the bacteria that failed the trilogy test and died in the human body.
On the other hand, metabonomics is inactivated bacteria produced by patented heat sealing technology. Using high-tech equipment, the intestinal environment of human body is simulated, and metabolites with health care function are directly generated. Directly absorbed after drinking, there is no traditional trilogy of live bacteria. Metabolites are preparations of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components beneficial to host health, mainly including inactivated bacteria, bacterial metabolites and bacterial cell lysate. In the field of microbial research, metazoa is a research hotspot in recent years, and it is also a new solution to intestinal health. Compared with probiotics, metazoa have outstanding advantages such as oxygen resistance, high temperature resistance, processing resistance and durability, and there are no serious safety hazards such as bacterial translocation, drug resistance gene transmission or pathogenic bacteria pollution. It can balance intestinal flora, enhance immunity, regulate physiological function, and promote the healthy growth of animals without colonization.
With the advent of the replacement era, metazoa will become a new type of healthy raw materials, with broad application prospects and great commercial value. Metabolites can be used in food, animal protection and other fields. Such as food additives and animal feed additives.