The Global Prebiotic Association (GPA) Announces the Publication of its Prebiotic Definition and Consensus Paper
A benchmark setting the stage for responsible category growth based on substantiation.
November 19, 2024: Chicago, IL – The Global Prebiotic Association (GPA), a non-profit raising awareness of the benefits of prebiotics, announces the publication of its perspective paper aimed at revisiting the concepts of prebiotics and prebiotic effect. The new paper, published in Advances in Nutrition, provides a science-based industry perspective that contributes to the advancement of the prebiotics category and on-going dialogue within the field.
A clear grasp of prebiotics, including their definition, health and performance benefits, and mechanisms of action is fundamental for recognizing their role in today’s dietary practices. GPA acknowledges the foundational contributions of organizations like the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in establishing early definitions of prebiotics. Building on this work, GPA led scientific literature reviews and facilitated discussions among industry and scientific experts within its membership to propose definition updates. As a result, GPA now presents two updated definitions, for prebiotics and prebiotic effect that integrate recent advancements in gut biology, metagenomics, and prebiotic research.
The primary changes to the prebiotic definition include moving away from the concept of selectivity and introducing two new aspects: prebiotic effect and performance benefit. GPA remains firmly committed to supporting rigorous scientific standards as required by regulatory agencies for any ingredient candidate seeking prebiotic classification. In collaboration with its membership, GPA is developing Standards of Evidence to determine established, novel, and emerging prebiotics, a tool to be used by members to assess ingredients or products and as a resource for technical papers and programs like SGS Nutrasource’s NutraStrong™ Prebiotic Verified standard that validates the quality and efficacy of prebiotic ingredients.
GPA’s updated definition broadens the scope of prebiotics to encompass new ingredients (e.g., non-carbohydrates), various formulations (e.g., topical), and non-gastrointestinal microbiomes (e.g., skin, urogenital, etc.) relevant to both human and animal applications. These updates are designed to uphold scientific validity and rigor across all aspects of the prebiotic definition, reducing ambiguity and ensuring clarity and utility for the scientific community, industry, regulators, healthcare providers, and consumers.
“The GPA’s mission is to steward responsible growth of the prebiotic category globally. It is also to recognize established and emerging benefits, and the prebiotic definition, as well as the discussion of prebiotic effect represents a huge milestone for us as an organization.” stated Len Monheit, Executive Director at GPA.
“While prebiotics can be leveraged to promote health, a lot of confusion remains among consumers and other stakeholders around the term prebiotic and what exactly is a prebiotic effect. This position paper is a significant achievement for the prebiotic category and GPA, as it provides a sound regulatory and scientific perspective that will help bring clarity to and advance the category,” said Edward Deehan, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Santa Al Antwan, Regulatory Affairs Associate at SGS Nutrasource and co-author of the paper, said: “The value of this paper lies in its presentation of insights from key stakeholders – prebiotic industry professionals and scientists – who frequently engage with the public and recognize the importance of clear, precise terminology in definitions. Through GPA’s initiatives, the aim from this paper is to serve as a catalyst for uniting efforts from academia and industry to advance the field of prebiotics in the years to come.”
– For the online publication, visit https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2161831324001637
– For more information on GPA, visit https://prebioticassociation.org/
– For more information on SGS Nutrasource, visit https://www.nutrasource.ca/
For more information on GPA’s involvement and work in the prebiotic realm, please contact Len Monheit at len@itcstrategy.com.
About GPA
GPA is the global non-for-profit information and industry hub within the prebiotic science realm stewarding the prebiotic category by increasing awareness and understanding of science supporting well-known and newfound benefits of prebiotics. GPA is comprised of over 40 global ingredient manufacturers, brand holders, retailers, and companies with expertise in prebiotic scientific innovation, substantiation, regulation, and marketing.
LEARN MORE: www.prebioticassociation.org
About SGS Nutrasource
SGS Nutrasource is a leading nutraceutical and pharmaceutical life sciences company that brings together the strategy, expertise, and services required to help clients commercialize health and wellness products with strong science and regulatory confidence. The unique offering of clinical trial management, strategic and regulatory consulting services along with a state-of-the-art clinical trial site has been developed with one goal in mind –success in the global marketplace. SGS Nutrasource also offers a series of third-party certification programs focused on natural health ingredients such as NutraStrong™, and NutraStrong™ Prebiotic Verified, a targeted verification program specific to quality and efficacy for prebiotic ingredients, in addition to omega-3s (IFOS™), probiotics (IPRO™), non-GMO (IGEN™), krill oil (IKOS™), algal oil (IAOS™), and CBD (ICAP™).
LEARN MORE: www.nutrasource.ca