November 18/Brussels/Science Letter-- Research findings, "Prebiotic Effects: Metabolic and Health Benefits," are discussed in a new report. According to recent research published in the The British Journal of Nutrition, "The different compartments of the gastrointestinal tract are inhabited by populations of micro-organisms. By far, the most important predominant populations are in the colon, where a true symbiosis with the host exists that is a key for well-being and health."
For such a microbiota, 'normobiosis' characterizes a composition of the gut 'ecosystem' in which micro-organisms with potential health benefits predominate in number over potentially harmful ones, in contrast to 'dysbiosis,' in which one or a few potentially harmful micro-organisms are dominant, thus creating a disease-prone situation. The present document has been written by a group of both academic and industry experts (in the ILSI Europe Prebiotic Expert Group and Prebiotic Task Force, respectively). It does not aim to propose a new definition of a prebiotic nor to identify which food products are classified as prebiotic but rather to validate and expand the original idea of the prebiotic concept (that can be translated in 'prebiotic effects'), defined as: 'The selective stimulation of growth and/or activity(ies) of one or a limited number of microbial genus(era)/species in the gut microbiota that confer(s) health benefits to the host.' Thanks to the methodological and fundamental research of microbiologists, immense progress has very recently been made in our understanding of the gut microbiota.