The market of products containing probiotic and prebiotic supplements is unlike any time in history. No longer confined to a pill or yogurt, there is a wide swath of products available for consumers concerned about their gut health. Noah Voreades, managing director for GenBiome Consulting, says products like Olipop soda or probiotic gummies on the market not only are expanding the demographics of those using products to help gut health but also changing ideas of probiotics across generations. “I think a perfect example is college students, which can fall anywhere from the older edge of Gen Z to younger millennials, they buy products now that they’re home during COVID, having to educate themselves remotely. They’re having interactions with their parents, their parents are seeing them consuming new and novel products that they find really efficacious that taste good, that meet their lifestyle and there’s this cross-mingling.” That sort of experience can encourage members of the baby boomer generation, who my be fatigued by taking a number of pills, to utilize microbiome-based products in a non-traditional form. Beyond simply taking age and taste into consideration, the microbiome market is drilling down even more on the individual. “The reason why personalization is entering the microbiome product space is because consumers, we’re becoming used to things being designed, built experienced around us,” said Voreades, citing algorithms used by Netflix or Spotify. “That’s bleeding into the drive to make microbiome products more personalized. Also, I think foundationally when we look at the science and the state of the science in the microbiome space, we’re starting to realize that everyone’s microbiome is very unique. There’s a lot of variation between you and I.” The advances in technology will be fascinating to follow as science continues to dedicate serious resources to exploring gut health and how it can be improved across age groups and other demographic groups.