Why are postbiotics the future of biotics

Vitafoods Insights: 00:06

Hello and welcome. You've tuned in to Vitafoods stories podcast series, the podcast that explores the latest insights and innovations, helping the global health and nutrition industry connect, develop and progress.

Heather: 00:18

Hello, I'm Heather Granato. And thank you for joining me for this Vitafoods Insights podcast sponsored by Adare Biome. Today's guest is Ludger Roedder, the company's president. He has more than 30 years of global business and marketing leadership and a deep expertise in animal and human nutrition, including probiotics and enzymes. Prior to joining Adare Biome, he was Chief Business Officer at brain AG, where he helped commercialise the business on a global scale. Ludger, thank you for joining me.

Ludger: 00:48

Hello, thank you for having me.

Heather: 00:50

So let's dive in. Could you give us a bit more background around the notion of post biotics as well as introducing Adare Biome?

Ludger: 00:59

Yes. We're talking about pre-, pro- and post- biotics. And the easiest way to explain it is post biotics are living creatures, they are bacteria and living creatures have to eat in order to survive. And what probiotics do is they have to eat prebiotics, and prebiotics are nothing more than fibre, plant fibre for the most part. And if you eat as a living creature you have to digest, and the digestion is post biotics. This is the result of the nutrition chain, if you want, that is produced. So this is the relation for you pro post biotics.

Heather: 01:50

Great. Can you tell me a little bit then about Adare biome and how you've worked within this space.

Ludger: 01:56

Adare Biome is a part of their pharma solutions. Their pharma solutions is actually a CDM o pharma company, and their biome was and still is a part of this corporation. But their biome is unique in the sense that the drug part was established. And actually the post biotic that we use today was discovered in 1907. And from that point on the strain, the postbiotic strain that we use for all our products, was developed further and was developed into a drug and the drug is still used today. It's called lacteal. It's very well known as an anti diarrheal drug, specifically in Europe, but also brought and we discovered just recently actually, that we could use this strain also for other industry segments such as feet, pet food, and food supplements. We have done testing, and we know for a fact that it works. And now this is the idea of Adare Biome to promote post biotics not only as the drug lacteal, but also into the other industry segments. We have started this actually actively, only last year, even though we had a few customers that we have supplied for four or five years, but it was more inactive, that we did not really actively promoted or market the product.

Heather: 03:32

Okay, really exciting. So let's take a step back then. What are the advantages of post biotics?

Ludger: 03:39

Well, the advantages of post biotics are it's an animal material. That means it is heat resistant and it does not react like probiotics do. If you use probiotics in food for instance, in food mattresses, they have to survive intrusion process. Intrusion process means heat, and probiotics can hardly stand or not stand heat at all. So if you put probiotics into an intrusion, you may not get exactly what you want to get out. So it's very much reduced. Our post biotics can be heat treated, we've done the testing for over an hour at 110 degrees Celsius, and you get exactly the same results than before you put them into an intrusion.

Heather: 04:31

Thank you. Let's talk then about proof of efficacy. Is there any proof of efficacy like clinical trials or other research studies for post biotics?

Ludger: 04:41

Yes, there is and as I said it goes back to 1907 and in 1907, the people that founded this company and the doctor who discovered it did the first researches on humans. So we are proud to have over 50 human studies. And in addition to that, since 2020, we did studies in animals, pig studies, feedd studies, I'd like to point that out. It's only feed studies. So we have an array of studies on humans and animals that has proven the product works extremely well. And it has some major advantages over other products that are used, such as probiotics, and also other antibiotics.

Heather: 05:31

How do you expect the market then for probiotics to develop into the future?

Ludger: 05:36

Well, the notion of post biotic is fairly new. It was scientifically defined through ISO, only last year, so May last year. And it's pretty much a new product that needs to be explained. And I believe we're doing a great job marketing it and making ourselves visible. However, there's a lot to explain what is the difference between pre and a probiotic, for instance, and this is what I'm trying to explain right now. There are huge advantages, as I said before, but it's new in the market. So if a product is new in the market, and it works very well, which it does, so you will see an uptake probably sooner rather than later. And we see it right now. But it takes some time, which is pretty clear. But you will see more and more post biotics in the market used for feed, for pet foods, and for food supplement. I have to say unfortunately, we're not the only ones. But we claim that we are the Pioneer because we have by far the most scientific studies and we can prove that it works.

Heather: 06:46

So what are the post biotic solutions offered by Adare Biome?

Ludger: 06:51

So the roots are in the drug development like they are. But we know for a fact that the strain works in other industry segments and we have started to branch out into other segments such as pet food. We have developed a product for pet food that is called L Biome pet. We have dietary supplements, and this is the other segment. The product is called L Biome Human. And we also have strong ties to the feed industry. And we have specifically developed a product for the feed industry that is named L Biotics. So having said that, we have done a lot of trials in the different segments, we have very interesting leads in parts with quite significant key players in these industry segments. And we are enjoying a very fruitful partnership and the business will grow for sure.

Heather: 08:00

So you gave us some context here around Adare being biome, this pioneer in post biotics. Can you give us a little bit of recap when companies are looking, obviously, there are other providers out there, why would they want to be working with Adare Biome?

Ludger: 08:16

Because we have used the product and we have used the term postbiotics long before it was officially a scientific notion. I'm repeating myself here, we have the scientific studies that we can show and that we are showing to our customers. And we can say listen, it works in humans. So it for sure works in animals. And in order to prove that we are still doing field trials with various animals. We have done eight studies in piglets for instance. And the results are mind boggling in a very positive way. Meaning that we can potentially replace or at least replace, in parts, antibiotics as growth promoters. It fights pathogens, which has been proven and the mortality rate which is a big issue for many producers is going significantly down because, especially in piglets or young animals in general, diarrhoea for instance, and gut health is a huge topic and jeopardises the animal. And of course it jeopardises the people who take care of the animals, jeopardises the profits to be frank, and our product helps to improve that significant

Heather: 09:36

Well, it sounds really like a fascinating whitespace opportunity for companies interested in exploring sort of a new market. So I appreciate you taking the time to chat with us. Ludger. Thank you for joining me.

Ludger: 09:50

Very welcome. Thank you so much, and thanks for having me.

Heather: 09:53

Thank you You also to our audience for joining me for this Vitafoods insights podcast sponsored by Adare Biome.