Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
Nutrients. 2024 Jan 27;16(3):380. doi: 10.3390/nu16030380.
Prebiotics and postbiotics have gained attention as functional food additives due to their substantial influence on the gut microbiome and potential implications for human health on a broader scale. In addition, the number of patents for these additives has also increased, yet their functional classification has been problematic. In this study, we classified 2215 patents granted from 2001 to 2020 by functionality to enable predictions of future development directions. These patents encompassed subjects as diverse as feed supplementation, regulation of intestinal homeostasis, prevention of gastrointestinal ailments, targeted drug administration and augmentation of drug potency. The progression of patents issued during this time frame could be divided into three phases: occasional accounts prior to 2001, a period from 2001 to 2013 during which an average of 42 patents were issued annually, followed by a surge exceeding 140 patents annually after 2013. The latter increase has indicated that pre- and post-biotics have been recognized as biologically relevant. Patent mining therefore can enable forecasts of the future trajectory of these biologics and provide insights to evaluate their advancement. Moreover, this research is the first attempt to generalize and predict the directions of prebiotics and postbiotics using patent information and offers a comprehensive perspective for the potential utilization of prebiotics and postbiotics across a wide variety of fields.
由于其对肠道微生物组的显著影响以及对更广泛人类健康的潜在影响，益生元和后生元作为功能性食品添加剂受到了关注。此外，这些添加剂的专利数量也有所增加，但它们的功能分类一直存在问题。在这项研究中，我们根据功能将 2001 年至 2020 年期间授予的 2215 项专利进行了分类，以便能够预测未来的发展方向。这些专利涵盖了饲料补充、调节肠道内稳态、预防胃肠道疾病、靶向药物给药和增强药物效力等多个领域。在此期间发布的专利进展可以分为三个阶段：2001 年之前偶尔有报道，2001 年至 2013 年期间每年平均发布 42 项专利，之后每年发布的专利数量超过 140 项。后者的增加表明，益生元和后生元已被认为具有生物学相关性。因此，专利挖掘可以预测这些生物制剂的未来发展轨迹，并提供评估其进展的见解。此外，这项研究首次尝试使用专利信息来概括和预测益生元和后生元的发展方向，并为广泛领域中益生元和后生元的潜在利用提供了全面的视角。
