ReviewGut microbes
The clinical evidence for postbiotics as microbial therapeutics.
Review in Gut microbes. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- Postbiotics Formulation and Therapeutic Effect in Inflammation: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Global research trends in bacteriophage and gut microbiota: a bibliometric and visual analysis from 2012 to 2025.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- A retrospectively registered pilot randomized controlled trial of postbiotic administration during antibiotic treatment increases microbiome diversity and enriches health-associated taxa.Infection and immunity · 2026Trial
- Evaluating the Role of Postbiotics in the Modulation of Human Oral Microbiota: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2025Trial
- Efficacy of a postbiotic and its components in promoting colonic transit and alleviating chronic constipation in humans and mice.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Gut microbiome dynamics in acute infectious diarrhea: A conceptual framework from acute dysbiosis toward precision restoration (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Review
- Gut microbiota-immune-metabolic crosstalk in acute lung injury: integrating the gut-lung axis from mechanism to therapeutic targeting.Seminars in immunopathology · 2026Review
- A Postbiotic ContainingMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Targeting the human gut microbiome: a comparative review of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and postbiotics.Journal of advanced research · 2026Review
- Administration of the Postbiotic Substance 412 to Slovak Warm-Blooded Horses: A Pilot Experiment.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Protective Effect of a Heat-Stabilized Bacteria Probiotic Preparation (VSL#3-HS) in a Mouse Model of Ulcerative Colitis Induced by Dextran Sulfate Sodium.Molecular nutrition & food research · 2026Article
- Gut microbiota in health and disease.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
- Decoding the Applications of Microbial Metabolites: Insights into the Antibacterial Potential of Lactobacillus acidophilus Postbiotics.Current microbiology · 2026Article
- Postbiotics in Functional Foods: Preparation-Based Characterization, Gut-Brain Axis Interactions, and Translational Perspectives.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Gastric Microbiota Dysbiosis and Microbiome-Based Interventions in Chronic Atrophic Gastritis.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Experimental models for intestinal host-microbe interactions.EMBO molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Microbiota, systemic immunity, and extracellular vesicles in stroke: peripheral nodes as therapeutic leverage points.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Review
- Probiotics and Postbiotics in Life-Style Disease Management: A Comprehensive Review on the Technologies in the Era of Omics and Artificial Intelligence.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- In Vitro Assessment of Selected Postbiotic Substances Against Methicillin-Resistant and Methicillin-SusceptibleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 7 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
An optimally operating microbiome supports protective, metabolic, and immune functions, but disruptions produce metabolites and toxins which can be involved in many conditions. Probiotics have the potential to manage these. However, their use in vulnerable people is linked to possible safety concerns and maintaining their viability is difficult. Interest in postbiotics is therefore increasing. Postbiotics contain inactivated microbial cells or cell components, thus are more stable and exert similar health benefits to probiotics. To review the evidence for the clinical benefits of postbiotics in highly prevalent conditions and consider future potential areas of benefit. There is growing evidence revealing the diverse clinical benefits of postbiotics in many prevalent conditions. Postbiotics could offer a novel therapeutic approach and may be a safer alternative to probiotics. Establishing interaction mechanisms between postbiotics and commensal microorganisms will improve the understanding of potential clinical benefits and may lead to targeted postbiotic therapy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.