The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) consensus statement on the definition and scope of synbiotics

Authors

Kelly S. Swanson, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignFollow
Glenn R. Gibson, The University of Reading
Robert W. Hutkins, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Raylene A. Reimer, University of Calgary
Gregor Reid, University of Western Ontario
Kristin Verbeke, Translational research in Gastrointestinal Disorders, Ku Leuven & leuven Food Science and Nutrition research Centre, Leuven
Karen P. Scott, University of Aberdeen
Hannah D. Holscher, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Meghan B. Azad, University of Manitoba
Nathalie M. Delzenne, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels
Mary Ellen Sanders, International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics, Centennial

ORCID IDs

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5518-3076

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0566-0476

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5088-7947

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9658-5696

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-7565

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4608-0013

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4918-2426

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5942-4444

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2115-6082

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6321-3423

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

NATURE REVIEWS GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY VOLUME 17 687-701

Comments

The Author(s) 2020

Abstract

In May 2019, the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) convened a panel of nutritionists, physiologists and microbiologists to review the definition and scope of synbiotics. The panel updated the definition of a synbiotic to “a mixture comprising live microorganisms and substrate(s) selectively utilized by host microorganisms that confers a health benefit on the host”. The panel concluded that defining synbiotics as simply a mixture of probiotics and prebiotics could suppress the innovation of synbiotics that are designed to function cooperatively. Requiring that each component must meet the evidence and dose requirements for probiotics and prebiotics individually could also present an obstacle. Rather, the panel clarified that a complementary synbiotic, which has not been designed so that its component parts function cooperatively, must be composed of a probiotic plus a prebiotic, whereas a synergistic synbiotic does not need to be so. A synergistic synbiotic is a synbiotic for which the substrate is designed to be selectively utilized by the co-administered microorganisms. This Consensus Statement further explores the levels of evidence (existing and required), safety, effects upon targets and implications for stakeholders of the synbiotic concept.