88 MICROBIOME Probiotic ■ Synbiotic■
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Figure 3: An example of a synbiotic product Note: Ahava’s probiotic line contains HeiQ Chrisal’s synbiotic
concentrate.
to reduce the risk of infectious organisms, thereby greatly improving safety in hospitals.7 Because hand hygiene is also a major aspect
of infection control, healthcare institutions asked for a probiotic hand soap or gel to be developed for use in combination with the probiotic cleaning products. This approach was very successful in reducing the number of hospital infections.8 The COVID-19 pandemic has also influenced the scientific focus of many academics and R&D companies. Looking at the interactions between bacteria and viruses has indicated that viruses can use some bacterial and fungal members of the skin microbiome to survive and multiply in order to facilitate their spreading.9
On the other
hand, probiotic Bacillus species such as Bacillis subtilis, have demonstrated to excrete the biosurfactant Surfactin, which ‘degreases’ the virus envelope, thereby lowering viral infectivity up to 1,000 times.10 More recently, research towards the mode
of action and certain metabolites (postbiotics) produced by the probiotics has shown several additional health benefits related to probiotic skincare. The anti-inflammatory activity of several probiotic Bacillus species has been investigated and has been shown to be of great value for skin protection and lowering symptoms related to a number of skin disorders.
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Figure 4: Prebiotic booster effect Note: Adding inulin to the probiotic product accelerates the germination of probiotic Bacillus spores. Faster germination leads to a faster
probiotic effect which is important in hand hygiene products for instance
Again, the surfactins excreted by B. subtilis have shown to be anti-inflammatory.11
Applying
these probiotic species in skin cream may lead to less skin inflammation (redness) as a result of eczema, psoriasis or even the intensive wearing of face masks and medical gloves. Combining the infection control and anti-inflammatory benefits, a promising new application for probiotic and synbiotic skincare is wound treatment. This would lower the risk of infections by opportunistic pathogens and improve the healing process, with less risk of scar formation. This application was first described by
Savitskaya in 2019 and several clinical trials are currently ongoing to further explore probiotic wound healing.12
These results also
suggest a positive effect of probiotics on the skin barrier of intact skin, resulting in an increased hydration. However, more detailed studies on the actual mechanism and probiotic metabolites (postbiotics) involved in such recorded benefits are needed. On the edge between skin and our inner
body, probiotics have also been applied to colonise the mucosal membrane in our nasal cavity.13
The same principle of using probiotics
to modulate the upper respiratory tract microbiome has proved to be very promising in preventing several infections or even allergic reactions.
Challenges with probiotics in skincare As with all new technologies, probiotic and synbiotic skincare products are confronted with a number of challenges, including regulatory, technical and scientific issues. Today, Cosing refers to Bacillus and
Lactobacillus species with the INCI names Bacillus, Bacillus Ferment, Lactobacillus and Lactobacillus Ferment. Although this covers almost all currently used probiotic species in cosmetics, more specific nomenclature would be welcome. Many benefits can be species- or even strain-dependent. Nevertheless, the fact that the most commonly used probiotics are already listed in Cosing is important and shows that this technology is trending. In addition to the specific nomenclature, a
common issue around most parts of the world is that cosmetics legislation is not yet fully up to date with using live microorganisms in cosmetic products. As such, certain analysis protocols for quality control (QC), as well as standard challenge tests in view of product information files, have to be expanded or modified. Because a probiotic or synbiotic cosmetic will
intentionally contain millions of probiotic micro- organisms, their presence has to be distinguished from possible contaminants. Analytical protocols aiming at total count detection will generate false positives and well-known selective detection methods have to be applied for the specific detection of contaminants.
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PERSONAL CARE April 2022
www.personalcaremagazine.com
Vegetative Bacillus count (thousand)
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