Postbiotics

Postbiotics are the beneficial products of microbial activity, such as inactivated bacteria, their cell fragments or the compounds they release, studied for possible effects on digestive health. They complete a trio with [probiotics](/glossary/probiotics), which are live micro-organisms, and [prebiotics](/glossary/prebiotics), which are the fibres that feed them; postbiotics are, loosely, the useful end products rather than the organisms themselves. The concept has a practical appeal in pet food: because postbiotics are not living, they are not vulnerable to the heat and storage that kill live probiotics during processing, which makes them more stable in a finished kibble. The short-chain fatty acids generated when fermentable [fibre](/glossary/fibre) is broken down in the colon are a familiar example of postbiotic compounds at work, nourishing the gut lining. This is an emerging and still evolving area of research, and the evidence base in dogs and cats remains limited, so claims should be read with appropriate caution rather than treated as settled (peer-reviewed veterinary literature). The term itself has only recently been given a consensus definition. As the science matures, postbiotics are increasingly discussed alongside the wider gut-health toolkit. See the [Petipedia glossary](/glossary) for related digestive-health entries.

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