PRE-PRO-POST-BIOTICS – INSIGHTS

Biotics are one of the newest frontiers in cosmetics. Within the class of “biotics” we find the following: prebiotics (substrate for microorganism), probiotics (live microorganism), and postbiotics (inanimate microorganism and/or their components). Their relevance arises from the fact that they appear to have a beneficial effect on the skin microbiota.

This literature review is therefore composed of: 1) a study on the prebiotic potential of galacto-oligosaccharides for skin microbiota and their incorporation into different formulations. It revealed that 5% (w/v) of galacto-oligosaccharides could stimulate S. epidermidis, while inhibiting S. aureus. 2) An evaluation of skin beneficial properties of probiotics (three Lactobacillus strains) that showed antioxidant, skin whitening, antiaging, barrier improving, and anti-inflammatory activities. 3) A 4-week clinical study of TYCA06/AP-32/CP-9/collagen derived postbiotics against Propionibacterium acnes and anti-inflammation effect around lesion area.

Scientific online resources as Pubmed and Google Scholar were used to retrieve articles of interest. To screen for the most advanced research, articles were selected from the year 2022 with the following keywords: prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics, cosmetic.