Abstract

Currently, bioactive compounds with health-promoting properties such as probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics have been gaining researchers’ consideration. Probiotics and postbiotics are frequently employed in various pharmaceutical industries and/or commercial food-based crops. These bioactive elements can be related to the host eukaryotic cells and possess a vital role in keeping and reestablishing host health. Notwithstanding the efficiency of live probiotic cells, scientists have employed the novel concept of “postbiotic” to augment their advantageous effects as well as to meet the requirements of consumers to provide a safe product. The outcomes of recent investigations suggest that postbiotics might be a suitable substitute for live probiotics and can be used in medical, veterinary, and food practice to hinder and treat some diseases, enhance animal health status and develop functional foods. Currently, scientific reports approved that postbiotics, as a potential substitute, may possess superiority regarding safety issues compared to their parent probiotic cells, and because of their exclusive features in terms of technological, clinical, and economic aspects, can be employed as hopeful approaches in the drug and food industry for developing health benefits, and therapeutic targets. The chapter describes the potential applications of postbiotics in pharmaceutical formulations and commercial food-based crops for health advancement, hindrance of disease, and utilization as complementary treatments.