An increasing number of studies on probiotics have found strong evidence that bacterial viability is not essential for imparting health benefits. It has been demonstrated in many studies that inactivated bacteria, bacterial cell components (peptidoglycans, lipoteichoic acids), or probiotic-derived metabolites (vitamins, polyphenols, bacteriocin, exopolysaccharides, short-chain fatty acids) can significantly improve host health. In 2021, the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) convened a panel of experts specializing in nutrition, microbial physiology, gastroenterology, pediatrics, food science and microbiology to propose a useful definition of “postbiotic”, which was defined as a “preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that confers a health benefit on the host.” Postbiotics have been proven to be excellent health effectors with multiple functions, including alleviating inflammatory bowel syndrome, eradicating Helicobacter pylori residing from the stomach, abrogating the negative effects of stress, anti-inflammation, anti-bacteria, alleviating asthma, anti-infection, anti-tumor, anti-allergy, and so on. In addition to these beneficial effects listed above, postbiotics have several advantages over probiotics, including higher safety, a longer shelf life, and more sites of action (e.g., gut, skin, oral cavity, urogenital tract, or nasopharynx), which will broaden their application fields.

It is well understood that a postbiotic product has intrinsic and specific components that confer specific beneficial effects. The preparation process can result in a different postbiotic composition with different effects. As a new health effector, more research into the preparation of postbiotics, developing and evaluating their specific function, and elucidating the action of mode is required. Furthermore, developing the application in various areas such as functional foods, health care products and medicines, as well as demonstrating their interactions with matrices or hosts are very appealing and meaningful.

In this Research Topic we warmly welcome and encourage Original Research articles, Reviews, and Mini-reviews that cover, but are not limited to the following sub-topics:
• Preparation of postbiotics (enrichment of functional components, co-fermentation with multi-species of bacteria to produce more functional metabolites, inactivation methods, quantification methods, characterization and identification of the functional components, etc.);
• Postbiotics and host health;
• Postbiotics and gut health;
• Beneficial effects of postbiotics on gut microbiota and metabolic syndrome;
• Postbiotics and modulation of immune responses;
• Postbiotics and modulation of the nervous system;
• Application of postbiotics in the food system (development of functional foods, food preservation);
• Interaction between postbiotics and host.

Topic Editor Zhaojie Li is employed by YuanDa Biotechnology Co., Ltd., China. Topic Editor Chuantao Peng is the founder and Chairman of YuanDa Biotechnology Co., Ltd., China. Topic Editor Lukasz Krych is employed by GenXone S.A., Poland. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

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