Walk into any health food shop in Brighton right now and you will find a new word appearing on supplement packaging: postbiotics. It sits next to the probiotics and the prebiotics, and it costs considerably more than either. The question worth asking before you reach for your wallet is whether it is actually doing anything that your gut is not already doing for free.
What Even Are Postbiotics?
You have probably heard of probiotics — the live bacteria found in yoghurt, kefir, kimchi and sauerkraut that support gut health. You may also know that probiotics need to be fed, and that food is prebiotic fibre from things like garlic, onions, leeks, oats and bananas. Postbiotics are simply what comes next: the beneficial compounds that gut bacteria produce when they break down those prebiotic fibres. Short-chain fatty acids, enzymes, vitamins and amino acids are all postbiotics. Your gut has been making them for your entire life.
What is new is the idea of consuming them directly as a supplement, rather than letting your gut bacteria produce them naturally.
Is the Science There?
Honestly, not yet — at least not for the general population. Some specific postbiotics show genuine promise. Butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid your gut produces when bacteria break down fibre, has been linked to potential symptom relief for people with inflammatory bowel disease. Certain heat-killed bacterial strains have shown benefits in reducing the likelihood of colds in older adults, and some bacterial lysate products are already used medically to help prevent recurrent respiratory infections.
But postbiotics are an enormous and varied group of compounds. Findings for one cannot be assumed to apply to another, and much of the research so far comes from cell cultures and animal studies rather than robust human trials. The practical advantages — postbiotics are stable, easier to store, and safer for immunocompromised people because they involve no live bacteria — are real but they do not amount to proof of superior health outcomes.
What Brighton Is Already Getting Right
Brighton’s food culture means many residents are already generating postbiotics naturally without realising it. The city’s food and drink scene — from fermented kimchi at independent Korean spots to the sourdough at Bāyit Bakery at the Open Market — delivers exactly the probiotic and prebiotic combinations that allow the gut to produce postbiotics on its own terms. A bowl of live yoghurt paired with a banana does more for postbiotic production than most supplements, while also delivering calcium, potassium and B vitamins at the same time.
This matters because Brighton has spent years building a reputation as one of the most health-conscious cities in the UK — and that reputation is increasingly grounded in food rather than supplements. The council’s own public health data, published as part of Brighton & Hove’s commitment to supporting healthy weight, emphasises dietary variety and access to whole foods as the foundation of long-term health — not the latest capsule on the shelf.
Should You Buy Them?
For most people, no — not yet. The evidence does not support replacing probiotics and prebiotics with postbiotic supplements. What it does support is eating more fermented foods, more fibre, and a varied diet that lets your gut do what it evolved to do. Brighton’s standing as one of the best cities in the UK for outdoor dining means the raw ingredients — plant-based restaurants, seasonal menus, independent food markets — are right on the doorstep. And if you are eating well at some of the city’s best restaurants, your gut microbiome is probably already producing postbiotics in the quantities it needs.
Postbiotics may well prove clinically valuable in specific settings as research matures. But for now, the most cost-effective way to benefit from them is to eat the foods that produce them — and Brighton makes that easier than most places.
