Biotic Definitions

Biotics literally means “pertaining to life”, that is, a living organism. “Biotics” is a word so often used that we tend to overlook all that it entails. We hear about PRO-biotics, PRE-biotics, and certainly more than enough about ANTI-biotics. To define this family of biotics is as follows:

Anti-biotics: Since anti means “against”, anti-biotics therefore means “against life”. We see this in the myriad of them given to destroy the “life” that is causing disease. However, because anti does mean “against”, antibiotics also destroys all the “good life" as well.

Pro-biotics: We know about the “pros and cons” of any situation. The PRO side is “for” something while CON side is against. Therefore, the definition of Pro-biotics is “for life”. In today’s language, a probiotic is defined as “a living microbiological dietary supplement that provides a nourishing environment to the 'friendly flora' living in the digestive tract”.

Pre-biotics:The prefix “pre” means “before”. As a result, a pre-biotic is a substance used to encourage life to begin; that is, a “food” for a probiotic organism.

Syn-biotics: This word is used to describe a product that contains both probiotics and prebiotics in a combination that works “together with or for life”; in other words, a synergism or a synergistic relationship. Because of this SYM-biotic relationship, the two words are often confused or used synonymously; but, since the word suggests synergism, SYN-biotic really should be reserved for products in which the prebiotic selectively favours the probiotic compound. However, this definition is narrowed down even more by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition –

“In this strict sense, a product containing oligofructose and probiotic bifidobacteria would fulfill the definition, whereas a product containing oligofructose and a probiotic Lactobacillus casei strain would not. However, one might argue that synergism is attained in vivo by ingestion of lactobacilli on the one hand and promotion of indigenous bifidobacteria on the other hand.”

According to this stricter definition, it appears that not every product containing both a prebiotic and a probiotic will have the necessary synergistic relationship.