According to the proposed definition by FAO/WHO, probiotics must be alive and abundant once ingested. However, during recent years, new definitions are added to the probiotic terminology such as ‘paraprobiotics’ (dead/inactive cells of probiotics) and ‘postbiotics’ (healthful metabolites of probiotics), because findings have shown that dead cells (intact or ruptured) could also show significant health impacts on human. However, mentioned terms are not accurate and impressive enough to reflect the intended meanings regarding all states of probiotic benefits and it seems that a disturbance and confusion in probiotic glossary has been occurred. As a result, a new terminology based on a new efficient approach and conceptualization is needed for a global agreement and usage. In the present paper, we are honored to propose such terminology to provide mentioned comprehensive approach and terminology for all aspects of probiotic benefits. We are proposing three main classes of probiotic including ‘true probiotic’ (TP) referring to viable and active probiotic cell, ‘pseudo-probiotic’ (PP) referring to viable and inactive cell, in the forms of vegetative or spore (PP_V or PP_S) and ‘ghost probiotic’ (GP) referring to dead/nonviable cell, in the forms of intact or ruptured (GP_I or GP_R). Each of these classes are classified into two groups based on their site of action/impact: internal (in vivo) or external (in vitro).

根据粮农组织/世卫组织提出的定义，一旦摄入益生菌，就必须是活的和丰富的。但是，近年来，益生菌术语中增加了新的定义，例如“副益生菌”（益生菌的死/无活性细胞）和“后益生菌”（益生菌的健康代谢产物），因为发现表明死细胞（完整或破裂）还可能对人类健康产生重大影响。但是，提到的术语不够准确和令人印象深刻，无法反映有关益生菌益处的所有状态的预期含义，并且似乎已经对益生菌术语表造成干扰和混乱。结果，全球协议和用法需要基于新有效方法和概念化的新术语。在本文中，我们很荣幸提出这样的术语，为益生菌益处的各个方面提供提及的综合方法和术语。我们提出了三种主要的益生菌类型，包括“真益生菌”（TP）指有活力和活性的益生菌细胞，“假益生菌”（PP）指有活力和无活性的细胞，呈营养或孢子形式（PP_V或PP _S）和“幽灵益生菌”（GP），指完整或破裂的形式的死亡/无活力的细胞（GP _I或GP _R）。根据它们的作用/影响部位，将这些类别中的每一个分为两类：内部（体内）或外部（体外）。