Probiotics, Prebiotics, Synbiotics, Postbiotics, & Paraprobiotics – New perspective for Functional foods and Nutraceuticals

  • 9,222

    Total downloads

  • 52k

    Total views and downloads

Submit your idea

You will be redirected to our submission process.

Submit your manuscript summarySubmit your manuscript

About this Research Topic

Submission closed

Background

This Research Topic is focused on the structural, functional, and nutritional perspectives intended to advance essential knowledge and exploration of the recent applications of probiotics, and probiotic-related concepts such as prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics, paraprobiotics in the food, and pharmaceutical industries. The health benefits for the host include: inhibiting gastrointestinal pathogens by modifying their immunogenicity and enhancing the degradation of enteric antigens, improving barrier protection, prevention of mucosal adherence, and intestinal disorders such as lactose intolerance, inflammatory bowel disease, constipation, anti-mutagenic, anti-cholesterol activity, and contribution to immune function. Probiotic products are still a technological challenge, prompting the food industry to find new alternatives for incorporating these probiotics in food. The safety of live microorganisms should be taken into consideration, particularly when administered to the elderly and immunodeficient individuals. In order to increase their shelf life, the use of prebiotics such as inulin, fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, etc., has been defined as a very interesting and promising approach.

The so-called synbiotics, in addition to encouraging the enhancement of probiotics survivability during production and storage, are also a strategy for food functionalization. In this regard, microencapsulation seems to be one of the most promising methods to protect probiotics against adverse environmental conditions by entrapment within a matrix of carrier agents. By supplementing the probiotic bacteria in food, it is important to consider numerous aspects, including their effective health benefits, sensory properties, shelf-life, and survival in the gastrointestinal tract. Recently, there is an increasing interest in the development of new products based on non-viable probiotics such as paraprobiotics and postbiotics. In particular, paraprobiotics, defined as “inactivated microbial cells (non-viable) that confer a health benefit to the consumer,” have the capability to regulate the adaptive and innate immune systems, exhibit anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative and antioxidant properties, and exert antagonistic effects against pathogens. In addition, paraprobiotics can exhibit enhanced safety, assure technological and practical benefits, and can also be used in products suitable for people with weak immunity and the elderly. These features offer an important opportunity to prompt the market with novel functional foods or nutraceuticals that are safer and more stable. Thus, it is essential to develop probiotic-based functional foods for food applications by using modern approaches. In addition, the structural and functional characterization of the pre-pro-syn-para-postbiotics related products particularly paraprobiotic and postbiotics are not well studied.

This Research Topic collection welcomes important research reports on the development of novel functional foods related to probiotics investigating the structural, technological, and functional aspects and their effects on the gut microbiome, which will further help in understanding their nutritional and functional aspects for a healthy diet. This Research Topic seeks an updated and new base of knowledge on structural chemistry, functionality, nutraceuticals, mechanism of action, encapsulation strategies, and its applications in food systems. Probiotics exert various health benefits by modulating the gut microbiome; however, techno-functional limitations such as viability control have hindered their full potential in the food and pharmaceutical sectors. Hence, there is a focus on improving the viability of probiotics by new technological advancements. Furthermore, there is increasing attention towards non-viable paraprobiotics and/or probiotics derived biomolecules, so-called postbiotics.

This Research Topic provides an overview of central issues on the probiotic related functional foods and pharmaceutical products and to highlight/address the urgent need for further studies aimed at assessing the safety and efficacy of these products and their mechanisms of action. It aims to highlight the recent advances towards developing pre to postbiotics related products for boosting the health and immune systems.

In this Research Topic, we welcome submissions of original research articles, reviews, mini reviews, letters, brief research report/data report, perspective, and communications related to the research theme.
Potential research topics include but are not limited to:
• Application of prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics, and paraprobiotics in food systems and pharma sectors for the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals.
• Paraprobiotics: inactivation techniques, evaluation of their effects/ benefits on hosts, mechanism of action, and its applications.
• Postbiotics: preparation, purification, identification, mechanism of action, potential health effects, and its applications.
• Extensive characterization of probiotic, prebiotic and postbiotic compounds using various emerging techniques.
• Emerging technologies for safe delivery of probiotics for various health benefits.
• Mechanism of action of probiotics, prebiotics, paraprobiotics and postbiotics
• Effect of processing techniques on the structure and function of prebiotics, probiotics, paraprobiotics and postbiotics.
• Prebiotics-postbiotics based functional food and pharmaceutical products: structure, function, and technical/activity relationship.
• Paraprobiotics and postbiotics – chemistry, and function/benefits/activity relationship.
• Novel analytical techniques in the structure elucidation of food bioactives.

Keywords: Probiotics, Food Chemistry, Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals, Nanodelivery Systems

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Topic editors

Frequently asked questions

  • Frontiers' Research Topics are collaborative hubs built around an emerging theme.Defined, managed, and led by renowned researchers, they bring communities together around a shared area of interest to stimulate collaboration and innovation.

    Unlike section journals, which serve established specialty communities, Research Topics are pioneer hubs, responding to the evolving scientific landscape and catering to new communities.

  • The goal of Frontiers' publishing program is to empower research communities to actively steer the course of scientific publishing. Our program was implemented as a three-part unit with fixed field journals, flexible specialty sections, and dynamically emerging Research Topics, connecting communities of different sizes and maturity.

    Research Topics originate from the scientific community. Many of our Research Topics are suggested by existing editorial board members who have identified critical challenges or areas of interest in their field.

  • As an editor, Research Topics will help you build your journal, as well as your community, around emerging, cutting-edge research. As research trailblazers, Research Topics attract high-quality submissions from leading experts all over the world.

    A thriving Research Topic can potentially evolve into a new specialty section if there is sustained interest and a growing community around it.

  • Each Research Topic must be approved by the specialty chief editor, and it falls under the editorial oversight of our editorial boards, supported by our in-house research integrity team. The same standards and rigorous peer review processes apply to articles published as part of a Research Topic as for any other article we publish.

    In 2023, 80% of the Research Topics we published were edited or co-edited by our editorial board members, who are already familiar with their journal's scope, ethos, and publishing model. All other topics are guest edited by leaders in their field, each vetted and formally approved by the specialty chief editor.

  • Publishing your article within a Research Topic with other related articles increases its discoverability and visibility, which can lead to more views, downloads, and citations. Research Topics grow dynamically as more published articles are added, causing frequent revisiting, and further visibility.

    As Research Topics are multidisciplinary, they are cross-listed in several fields and section journals – increasing your reach even more and giving you the chance to expand your network and collaborate with researchers in different fields, all focusing on expanding knowledge around the same important topic.

    Our larger Research Topics are also converted into ebooks and receive social media promotion from our digital marketing team.

     

  • Frontiers offers multiple article types, but it will depend on the field and section journals in which the Research Topic will be featured. The available article types for a Research Topic will appear in the drop-down menu during the submission process.

    Check available article types here 

  • Yes, we would love to hear your ideas for a topic. Most of our Research Topics are community-led and suggested by researchers in the field. Our in-house editorial team will contact you to talk about your idea and whether you’d like to edit the topic. If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. 

    Suggest your topic here 

  • A team of guest editors (called topic editors) lead their Research Topic. This editorial team oversees the entire process, from the initial topic proposal to calls for participation, the peer review, and final publications.

    The team may also include topic coordinators, who help the topic editors send calls for participation, liaise with topic editors on abstracts, and support contributing authors. In some cases, they can also be assigned as reviewers.

  • As a topic editor (TE), you will take the lead on all editorial decisions for the Research Topic, starting with defining its scope. This allows you to curate research around a topic that interests you, bring together different perspectives from leading researchers across different fields and shape the future of your field. 

     

    You will choose your team of co-editors, curate a list of potential authors, send calls for participation and oversee the peer review process, accepting or recommending rejection for each manuscript submitted.

  • As a topic editor, you're supported at every stage by our in-house team. You will be assigned a single point of contact to help you on both editorial and technical matters. Your topic is managed through our user-friendly online platform, and the peer review process is supported by our industry-first AI review assistant (AIRA).

  • If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. This provides you with valuable editorial experience, improving your ability to critically evaluate research articles and enhancing your understanding of the quality standards and requirements for scientific publishing, as well as the opportunity to discover new research in your field, and expand your professional network.

  • Yes, certificates can be issued on request. We are happy to provide a certificate for your contribution to editing a successful Research Topic.

  • Research Topics thrive on collaboration and their multi-disciplinary approach around emerging, cutting-edge themes, attract leading researchers from all over the world.

  • As a topic editor, you can set the timeline for your Research Topic, and we will work with you at your pace. Typically, Research Topics are online and open for submissions within a few weeks and remain open for participation for 6 – 12 months. Individual articles within a Research Topic are published as soon as they are ready.

    Find out more about our Research Topics

  • Our fee support program ensures that all articles that pass peer review, including those published in Research Topics, can benefit from open access – regardless of the author's field or funding situation.

    Authors and institutions with insufficient funding can apply for a discount on their publishing fees. A fee support application form is available on our website.

  • In line with our mission to promote healthy lives on a healthy planet, we do not provide printed materials. All our articles and ebooks are available under a CC-BY license, so you can share and print copies.

     

Participating Journals

Impact

  • 52kTopic views
  • 40kArticle views
  • 9,222Article downloads
View impact