Postbiotics

TYPE OF INGREDIENT​
Inanimate microorganismal products
COMMONLY FOUND IN
Serums, lotions, creams

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF POSTBIOTICS?

A variety of recent studies have demonstrated some benefit from postbiotics on the skin. A split-face study of 55 Korean women showed improvement in skin aging with the Actinobacterium byproduct orotic acid on the skin. A four-week serum with postbiotics showed improvement in acne lesion proportion, transepidermal water loss and sebum secretion compared to baseline for 20 subjects. This is in line with other studies that have shown the impact of postbiotics on improving scalp health and in rat models showing improvement in wound healing with postbiotics. Other studies have implicated postbiotics as able to benefit patients with chronic skin diseases like atopic dermatitis or psoriasis, though studies on these topics are limited.

WHAT IS POSTBIOTICS ?

Postbiotics are microorganism remnants and components that confer a benefit on the host’s health. They can include fatty acids, byproducts of prebiotics or probiotics and vitamins.

Light Pink Liquid drops

IS POSTBIOTICS SAFE FOR ALL SKIN TYPES AND TONES?

Postbiotics are likely safe for all skin types and tones based on available evidence.

CONTRAINDICATIONS

Although there are likely no major contraindications for the topical application of postbiotics, they should be used with caution in patients with an allergy to them or their derivatives.

Sources:

Coppola S, Avagliano C, Sacchi A, et al. Potential Clinical Applications of the Postbiotic Butyrate in Human Skin Diseases. Molecules. 2022;27(6):1849.

Cui H, Feng C, Guo C, Duan Z. Development of Novel Topical Anti-Acne Cream Containing Postbiotics for Mild-to-Moderate Acne: An Observational Study to Evaluate Its Efficacy. Indian J Dermatol. 2022;67(6):667-673.

Golkar N, Ashoori Y, Heidari R, et al. A Novel Effective Formulation of Bioactive Compounds for Wound Healing: Preparation, In Vivo Characterization, and Comparison of Various Postbiotics Cold Creams in a Rat Model. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021;2021:8577116. Published 2021 Dec 7.

Kim J, Lee YI, Mun S, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Epidermidibacterium Keratini EPI-7 Derived Postbiotics in Skin Aging: A Prospective Clinical Study. Int J Mol Sci. 2023;24(5):4634.

Nam Y, Kim J, Baek J, Kim W. Improvement of Cutaneous Wound Healing via Topical Application of Heat-Killed Lactococcus chungangensis CAU 1447 on Diabetic Mice. Nutrients. 2021;13(8):2666.

Scott E, De Paepe K, Van de Wiele T. Postbiotics and Their Health Modulatory Biomolecules. Biomolecules. 2022;12(11):1640.

Tsai WH, Fang YT, Huang TY, Chiang YJ, Lin CG, Chang WW. Heat-killed Lacticaseibacillus paracasei GMNL-653 ameliorates human scalp health by regulating scalp microbiome. BMC Microbiol. 2023;23(1):121.

Vinderola G, Sanders ME, Salminen S, Szajewska H. Postbiotics: The concept and their use in healthy populations. Front Nutr. 2022;9:1002213.

Nishad Sathe, MD

Author

Nishad Sathe is a PGY-3 Internal Medicine/Dermatology resident at the University of Minnesota