prebiotic

From pre- +‎ biotic.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹiːbaɪˈɒtɪk/

prebiotic (plural prebiotics)

1. (chiefly in the plural) A substance in food that is hard to digest and promotes the growth of beneficial intestinal microorganisms. [from 20th c.]
   • 2009, Jo Ann Hattner, Susan Anderes, Gut Insight, →ISBN, page 35:

     The table below includes plant foods we consider to be prebiotic “stars” since they are the foods listed in the scientific literature as sources of prebiotics.

   • 2015, Giulia Enders, translated by David Shaw, Gut, Scribe, published 2016, page 240:

     Prebiotics are nowhere near as well researched as probiotics, although there are already some sound results pertaining to how they work.

prebiotic (not comparable)

1. Before the advent of life.
   • 1986, Herrick Baltscheffsky, Hans Jornvall, Rudolf Rigler, Molecular Evolution of Life, →ISBN, page 43:

     There are three compelling reasons that suggest that the first set of prebiotic coding sequences to be translated were repeats of base oligomers, the numbers of bases in oligomeric units not being multiples of three.

   • 2005, Peter Walde, Laurent Boiteau, Prebiotic Chemistry: From Simple Amphiphiles to Protocell Models, →ISBN:

     As a result, studies of uncoded peptide bond formation are founded in using NCAs as substrates (even when obtained as the reactive species of the non-prebiotic CDI activation) for mimicking prebiotic processes.

   • 2006, Bernard Barbier, Hervé Martin, Jacques Reisse, Lectures in Astrobiology: Vol I, →ISBN:

     The chemistry of cyanoacetylene, HC₃N, can lead in aqueous solution to the prebiotic synthesis of pyrimidines.

   • 2010, Giovanni Occhipinti, Prebiotic chemistry and the origin of life, →ISBN, page 30:

     The amino acids which were formed through prebiotic reactions were surely chiral.

   • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Dumah, Micah System:

     Home to 51 moons, including the prebiotic moon Anafiel, Dumah is a standard hydrogen-helium gas giant with violent surface winds exceeding 1,900 kph.

   • 2014, Theodore R. Johnstone, Boundaries of Evolution, →ISBN:

     Artificial prebiotic experiments were designed to mimic what might have occurred before life appeared.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:prebiotic.
2. (of a food) Not digestible, but beneficial.
   • 2009, Jo Ann Hattner, Susan Anderes, Gut Insight, →ISBN, page 35:

     The table below includes plant foods we consider to be prebiotic “stars” since they are the foods listed in the scientific literature as sources of prebiotics.

   • 2011, Teresa M. Paeschke, William R. Aimutis, Nondigestible Carbohydrates and Digestive Health, →ISBN:

     Evidence of the prebiotic properties of polydextrose (PDX), resistant maltodextrin (RMD), and other soluble fiber sources are slowly emerging, but the body of evidence is small compared to the gold standard of fructo oligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin.

   • 2013, Polysaccharides—Advances in Research and Application, →ISBN:

     Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Reading, “The ability to mediate a prebiotic modulation of gut microbiota has recently been suggested to have an inverse correlation with risk of cardiometabolic disease..."

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:prebiotic.

Borrowed from English prebiotic.

prebiotic m or n (feminine singular prebiotică, masculine plural prebiotici, feminine and neuter plural prebiotice)

1. prebiotic