Synbiotic Health, founded in 2017, is a probiotic ingredient supplier focused on improving human health through the gut microbiome. Unlike others who select probiotic strains based on their history of use or how easy they are to manufacture, we focus our efforts on discovering and developing strains that are truly important to the human gut ecosystem and proving that they can better impact health in positive ways.

Find out more about our company and scientific expertise here.

Q. Why was Synbiotic Health founded?

Synbiotic Health was established to commercialize decades of fundamental research by the company’s scientific founders. The company represents the culmination of years of scientific discoveries with a goal of developing ecologically-advanced® microbiome ingredients for improved health.

Q. Who are the scientific founders of Synbiotic Health?

Synbiotic Health was formed by four well-known microbiome scientists whose research focuses on understanding the gut environment and its ecological framework—especially how probiotics and diet interact with the resident microbes in the gut. The Scientific Founder team includes Dr. Robert Hutkins and Dr. Andy Benson with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Food for Health Center; Dr. Jens Walter with APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork; and Dr. Tom Burkey, an animal scientist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Q. What makes the Synbiotic Health team experts in the microbiome?

The scientific founders and extended scientific team have over 100 years of collective experience in microbiome research, microbiology, and food science, and have collectively published over 300 scientific articles in these areas. They are academic scientists who are highly respected in their respective fields, with frequent invitations to speak at academic and industry conferences and events. Together they have created a new way to influence the ecology of the microbiome to support overall health.

Q. What unique technology has Synbiotic Health developed?

The research of the founders led to discovery and development pipelines that include the iVS (In Vivo Selection) and iVE (In Vitro Enrichment) technology platforms. These platforms allow Synbiotic Health to intelligently pair prebiotics with ecologically-advanced® probiotic strains to create a Synergistic Synbiotics®. The scientific founders have published numerous research articles supporting Synbiotic Health technologies and ingredients.

Q. What is Synbiotic Health’s scientific approach?

Synbiotic Health’s product development processes consider the entire gut ecosystem and the specific traits and functions necessary for microbiota-altering ingredients to impact the microbial community in ways that support health. Our evaluation framework has led to novel discovery platforms for developing ecologically-advanced® probiotic strains and intelligently-paired synbiotics.

Q. What is meant by ecologically-advanced® microbiome ingredients?

Ecologically-advanced® microbiome ingredients are designed to more successfully alter the gut microbial community and impact health and wellbeing. We believe that matching strains to their adapted environment will maximize the potential of probiotics to influence health. Our strains persist in the gut, make a difference to the ecosystem they encounter, and are intelligently paired with prebiotics to produce synergistic effects. Because we develop ingredients based on our deep understanding of ecology, Synbiotic Health’s offerings impact the gut microbiota better than competitors’, to support digestive and overall health.

Q. What is intelligent pairing?

Intelligent pairing means using live microorganisms and their food (i.e. prebiotics) in combinations that work together. Using the company’s iVS and iVE development platforms, selected candidate prebiotics (predicted food sources for beneficial microbes) are used to stimulate native strains. Specific strains are then identified for their ability to compete and persist in the gut in the presence of this preferred food source.

Q. What are Synergistic Synbiotics®?

Synergistic Synbiotics® are intelligent pairings of probiotic strains with fibers or other substrates they can consume in the gut. Our aim is to deliver an adapted native probiotic strain together with a selective partner prebiotic to achieve true synergy. In this type of combination, the probiotic strain can out-compete other microbes in the gut environment for the prebiotic. Synergistic combinations are intended to achieve greater health impacts than either ingredient could on its own. Products marketed today as synbiotics are usually ‘complementary’ synbiotics with little or no scientific proof that the live microorganisms and the prebiotic can work together.

Q. What sets Synbiotic Health apart from other probiotic and synbiotic ingredient suppliers?

Three factors set Synbiotic Health apart:

• Unique ecological approach. Synbiotic Health bases its product development on ecological principles, enabled by proprietary technology processes (iVS and iVE) to create Advanced Probiotics® and Synergistic Synbiotics® that offer greater potential for health impacts than other ingredients.
• Engaged expert team. Synbiotic Health is guided by a strong scientific team of world experts in microbiome research and gut microbial ecology, and has a strong commercial leadership team of nutraceutical industry veterans.
• High scientific standards. Synbiotic Health’s product development approach was vetted and published in peer-reviewed journals, and the company proves the efficacy of its products using ‘gold standard’ placebo-controlled clinical trials.

Q. Where is the company headquartered?

The Synbiotic Health corporate office and labs are proudly headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska at the Nebraska Innovation Campus of the University of Nebraska.

Q. What products does Synbiotic Health offer today?

Our first offering is a Bifidobacterium adolescentis strain isolated from the human gut that supports gut barrier integrity. This strain (iVS-1®) has been extensively researched and found to possess traits important for survival in the human gut. The strain is competitive within the gut environment and establishes better in the human gut than the leading commercial bifidobacteria strain. iVS-1® can persist in the gastrointestinal tract at higher levels for extended periods of time than commercial strains that are often isolated from food, plants, or the soil. Our iVS-1® ecologically-advanced® probiotic can be delivered alone or as an intelligently-paired synbiotic with galactooligosaccharides (GOS), via either dietary supplements or some functional food forms.

We are also offering the human gut strain Bifidobacterium longum iVE-15®, an ecologically-advanced® probiotic that has been intelligently paired with prebiotic xylooligosaccharides (XOS) for delivery as a synbiotic. When paired with XOS, iVE-15® was able to establish a desirable presence in 18 out of 20 fecal microbiome samples tested, showing potential to reliably persist in the gut.

Contact us today to learn more about iVS-1® and our product pipeline.