Probiotic health food stands on the new outlet of healthy consumption

With the continuous improvement of Chinese people's awareness of probiotics, related basic research and industrialization upgrading have accelerated
.
In recent years, health food manufacturers have laid out the probiotic market, and probiotic health food has ushered in a golden period
of development.

Some probiotic cultures can be used to declare health food

Probiotics have functional properties that are beneficial to health, which are based on scientifically rigorous clinical trial evaluation and evidence-based medical evidence
.
At present, nearly 10,000 published academic papers have studied the various functions of different probiotic strains, confirming that the core function of probiotics is to improve human gastrointestinal health, such as balancing intestinal flora, alleviating intestinal inflammation, and alleviating irritable bowel syndrome
.

Wang Hesong, secretary-general of the Health Care Advisory Service Working Committee of the China Health Care Association, said that the strains used in probiotic health foods must be strains released by regulatory authorities that can be used for probiotic health foods, and there is sufficient research data and scientific consensus to support their health care functions
.
In accordance with relevant regulations, probiotic strains included in the "List of Probiotic Strains that Can Be Used for Health Food", "List of Strains that Can Be Used for Food", "List of Strains that Can Be Used in Infant Food" and probiotic strains in new food raw materials approved by regulatory authorities can be used to declare health food
.

As early as 2001, China issued the "List of Probiotic Strains that Can Be Used for Health Food", which includes Bifidobacterium infantis, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium youth, etc
.
In August this year, the National Health Commission updated the "List of Bacteria That Can Be Used for Food" and "List of Bacteria That Can Be Used in Infant Food", and adjusted the classification and naming of some of the bacteria in the list
.
A two-year transition period
will be set for strains in the list that involve species classification and naming adjustments.

Wu Chongming, a researcher at Tianjin University of Chinese Medicine, said that the main basis for the update of probiotic strains by relevant national departments is based on the latest research results of the application of whole genome sequencing technology in microbial taxonomy, and is consistent with the international general taxonomy of probiotics, which is convenient for public search and query
.
In order to ensure food safety, some of the cultures in the list are specific to subspecies
.
Because the safety and efficacy of bacteria are strain-specific, the safety and efficacy of different subspecies and strains of the same species can vary widely
.

The probiotic health food market is developing rapidly

The probiotic industry has huge market development potential, but the research of probiotic products in China started late, starting in the 90s of the 20th
century.
After years of development, the basic research and industrialization upgrading of China's probiotic industry have accelerated, and in the past five years, China's probiotic industry has developed
rapidly at an annual growth rate of more than 15%.
Based on this, the probiotic health food market has also risen
.

From the current point of view, the functions of probiotic health foods mainly include regulating intestinal flora, enhancing immunity, moisturizing and laxative, etc.
; The main dosage forms include oral liquids, powders, capsules
and tablets.
Relevant data show that about 140 domestic health foods with probiotics as the main raw material have been approved, including products
that have obtained new approval numbers through technology transfer registration.
China's enterprises engaged in the production of probiotics include Ketuo Biotechnology, Wellcome Biotechnology, Yiran Biotechnology, Runying Biotechnology, etc
.

Zhang Yongjian, director of the Food and Drug Industry Development and Supervision Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in recent years, the probiotic health food market has developed rapidly and has been sought after by many consumers
.
The main reason is that the public is no longer satisfied with the health needs of only obtaining energy from food, as well as nutrition and function; The scientific popularization of probiotics from all walks of life has been increasing, so that consumers have a deeper understanding of probiotics, so as to pay more attention to such health foods, and promote and stimulate the corresponding consumption
.

Probiotics are becoming an important part of
the nutritional health industry due to their health properties.
Cao Zheng, a national senior health manager, said that China has ushered in the golden period of the development of probiotic health foods, and the awareness rate of Chinese consumers on probiotics has reached 82%.

China may become the world's largest probiotic market, and more probiotic products more suitable for Chinese consumers' intestinal health will become a new hot spot
for nutritional and healthy consumption.

Wu Chongming said that the probiotic health food market has great development potential, and relevant scientific research departments and enterprises need to continuously increase research and development efforts
.
For example, strengthen the targeted screening and mining of potential probiotic strains, enhance the health efficacy of probiotic products, and reduce the instability of the quality of probiotic fermented products
.
In addition, the use of modern biotechnology, through genetic engineering and other means to cultivate more powerful probiotics that can colonize the intestine for a long time to play a beneficial role, is also a key issue
to be solved in the development of probiotic health food industry.

Industry insiders said that probiotic strains are a key factor restricting the innovation and development of the probiotic industry, making full use of rich microbial resources, based on a solid scientific research foundation, more and more enterprises use self-developed strains to develop products with healthy functions or starter cultures with distinctive characteristics, forming differentiation and enriching the market product types
.

"At present, the homogenization of the probiotic health food market is serious, and differentiated competition will become the key to
the victory of the probiotic health food market.
" Wang Hesong said
.

Some probiotic products will be specially labeled "imported bacterial powder" when advertising, and it seems that imported bacterial powder is better than domestic ones
.
But in fact, the research and production of probiotics by relevant scientific research institutions in China have reached the international advanced level
.
He Guoqing, vice chairman of the Probiotics Branch of the Chinese Society of Food Science and Technology and professor at Zhejiang University, said: "China's research on probiotics has had a deep accumulation, a large number of excellent local probiotic strains (strains) have been discovered, and strict safety and functional verification and clinical evidence have been carried out, which will provide consumers with a wider range of choices
.
" After decades of development and accumulation, China's probiotic industrial equipment and production management level has basically reached the international advanced level, and gradually formed a relatively complete regulatory system, which provides a guarantee
for the healthy development of the probiotic industry.
”

In the future, it will develop in the direction of composite functions

Professor Wang Gang of the School of Food Science of Jiangnan University introduced that as of June 30 this year, the university's strain bank has collected more than 25,000 strains, including 200 probiotics with patents and patents, and the germplasm resources cover all the strains on the catalog of strains that can be used for food
.

In He Guoqing's view, the development prospects of probiotics are optimistic, on the one hand, because the probiotic function of probiotics is recognized by consumers, and the survey results show that the public's understanding of probiotics is greater than that of neighboring countries, and probiotic products are becoming the conscious consumption
of the public.
On the other hand, at present, the proportion of sub-healthy people in China is relatively high, and the intake of probiotics is an effective way
to regulate intestinal flora and maintain intestinal health.
China's probiotic bacteria powder used to be mainly imported, but after decades of efforts, the research and development and production capacity of bacteria powder have reached the international advanced level, coupled with huge consumer demand, domestic raw material bacteria powder has become the protagonist
in the market.

Wang Hesong said that with the increase of consumer demand, strains suitable for the intestinal characteristics of Chinese consumers will be more favored
.
At the same time, probiotic health foods mainly compete with strains, and will develop in the direction of probiotic compound function in the future
.

In the future, it is not only the "wind outlet period" of the rapid growth of the probiotic market, but also the development period
of "a hundred schools of thought".
On the one hand, the market demand is strong and the prospects are promising; On the other hand, the top brands compete with each other, and domestic and foreign manufacturers have entered the market, which has intensified
market competition.
As consumers' understanding of probiotics continues to deepen and the maturity of the industry continues to increase, more and more market segments and needs will arise, and the goal of enterprises is to effectively discover and meet the needs of market segments, better achieve value creation, and truly solve the needs of
consumers.
Production enterprises should return to the essence of science and do truly "beneficial" things
.

(Zhu Meiqiao comprehensive arrangement)

China Food News(November 23, 2022, Version 06)

(Responsible editor: Zhu Meiqiao).