“Advancing the field”: AB-Biotics promotes targeted approach to biotic formulations

Focus on pre-, pro- and postbiotics is accelerating across nutritional supplements. Industry experts note that this could signal a shift toward more targeted and scientifically-backed health solutions.

According to AB-Biotics, producers must utilize new and better ingredients, address challenges such as stability in formulation and explore under-researched areas like women’s health to meet consumers’ demands.

Nutrition Insight sits down with Miquel Bonachera, the company’s co-founder, to better understand the evolving world of biotics.

“Recent research has highlighted that probiotics have far more to offer consumers than just supporting gut health,” Bonachera says. “Through careful management and innovative research and development, probiotic strains can be formulated to target key health areas.”

“However, many probiotics available on the market still follow a ‘top-down’ approach where unspecified strains are used as a method to support gut microbiota. At AB-Biotics, we take a ‘bottom-up’ approach where specific strains are identified, characterized in detail scientifically, analyzed for mechanistic action and then used to target specific conditions.”

Formulation challenges

AB-Biotics points out that ensuring the viability of live bacteria is a major challenge in probiotic formulation. Maintaining their stability and effectiveness when mixed into various formulations, food products or combined with other botanicals or ingredients is especially challenging.

“Our main goal with all our probiotic strains is to ensure the number of colony-forming units (CFU) evidenced in clinical trials remains the same in the finished product after two years’ shelf life,” Bonachera explains. “We achieve this in two ways — firstly, our in-house scientists focus only on the applications of our probiotics in specific areas, like the food or drug industries.”

“Secondly, we partner with companies that specialize in encapsulation methods to not only ensure all our probiotics deliver good stability, but that they are produced using the highest standards of drying methods — or lyophilization processes — to enable their long-term storage.”

Targeted benefits

AB-Biotics states that its probiotics portfolio includes solutions for cardiovascular, digestive, women’s, immune, cognitive, oral, skin and eye health. The company also offers biotic options that address issues such as weight management.Miquel Bonachera, co-founder of AB-Biotics.

Bonachera notes that an offering is only as good as the science that supports it and says AB-Biotics works hard to ensure customers and consumers of the efficacy of its offerings.

“For all our strains, we aim to publish at least one randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial to demonstrate the strains’ mechanism of action and health benefits,” he underscores. “For example, we recently shared the results of a direct comparative clinical study on a widely used probiotic for infant colic Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM17938 with our solution.”

“Marketed as AB-Kolicare, our blend of Bifidobacterium longum KABP-042 and Pediococcus pentosaceus KABP-041 was shown to deliver faster and more effective relief for infant colic compared to L. reuteri DSM17938.”

Future focuses

AB-Biotics highlights that the biotics market holds immense potential and many undiscovered opportunities. Moreover, the company says it is committed to introducing new biotic solutions and that the true potential of biotic ingredients extends beyond gut and microbiome modulation.

It also advocates for a more targeted approach to probiotics, which it says could significantly evolve and expand the market.

“Right now, we’re investing in women’s health as it’s an under-researched area, with much more to be done to support specific profiles of women like pregnant and menopausal women,” Bonachera concludes. “As such, we recently introduced our combination of strains Lactiplantibacillus plantarum KABP 051, Levilactobacillus brevis KABP 052 and Pediococcus acidilactici KABP 021 for menopausal support.” 

“Together, these strains have been shown to impact modulation of estrogen levels in the gut, known as estrabolone, demonstrating significant potential for supporting hormonal balance in menopausal women. We’re proud of our role in advancing this field and we are actively working to bring more effective solutions for women’s health to the market in the near future.”