585: The expanding world of gut health innovation

As the gut microbiome emerges as a "forgotten organ" implicated in everything from cardiovascular disease to Parkinson's, the biotics landscape is exploding beyond probiotics.

In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded at our event in Rotterdam in September 2025, a panel of experts take a deep dive into the world of pre, pro and postbiotics.

They reveal how plant-based meat fibres, and probiotic fermented foods are reshaping our understanding of gut health - and challenging how we communicate these complex benefits to consumers.

We discover how heat-inactivated bacteria can deliver gut, immune, and even mental health benefits without the stability challenges of live probiotics, look at how plant-based meat alternatives increase beneficial fibre-degrading microbes, and tackle the communication issue: how do you explain to consumers that not all fermented foods contain probiotics, that more probiotic strains isn't necessarily better, and that throwing multi-strain supplements at a Western diet won't magically fix everything?