Probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and postbiotics, what's next?

Probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics are well known by the dedicated research studies on them and as commercial products. More recently, a number of “biotic” preparations have emerged with different prefixes and they refer to their nature and formulation (“post-”, “para-”) or they are related to their health effect (“psycho-”, “gero-”, “immuno-”, etc.). So far, numerous probiotics and prebiotics have sound scientific evidences supporting their health effects, but they are not matching with their regulatory status. Despite that, scientific studies are outlining the new trends in this field, like research on new-generation probiotics and prebiotics and well-characterized postbiotics. Future research should focus on sound clinical trials and compositional and mechanistic characterization of these preparations.