Probiotics & Nutraceuticals

Prebiotics old and new

The prebiotics concept was introduced for initially in 1995 by Glenn Gibson and Marcel Roberfroid. Prebiotic was described as “a non-digestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the expansion and/or activity of 1 or a limited number of bacteria within the colon, and thus improves host health”. This definition was unchanged for quite 15 years. consistent with this definition, only a couple of compounds of the carbohydrate group, like short and long chain β-fructans [FOS and inulin], lactulose, and GOS, are often classified as prebiotics. In 2008, the 6th Meeting of the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotic defined “dietary prebiotics” as “a selectively fermented ingredient that leads to specific changes within the composition and/or activity of the gastrointestinal microbiota, thus conferring benefits upon host health”.