Fermented products with probiotic qualities

For several centuries, fermented products derived from plant or animal materials have been an acceptable and essential part of the diet in most parts of the world. Health benefits have also often been associated with them. Probiotics can be defined as fermented food containing specific Live microorganisms or a live microbial food or feed supplement, which beneficially effects the human or the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance. Nearly all probiotics currently on the market contain Lactobacilli, Streptococci, Enterococci or Bifidobacteria. In contrast to Japan, where freeze-dried microorganisms are consumed by a substantial part of the human population, in Europe, probiotic action towards humans are only claimed for certain fermented dairy products (e.g. yoghurts). Those species that have been extensively studied so far, with several experimental trials on man, are the two yoghurt bacteria Streptocaccus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, L. casei and Bifidobacteria. L. acidophilus has also received important scientific interest, however, only a few human studies have been carried out. From the technological point of view a good probiotic should be stable and viable for long periods under storage, should be able to survive the low pH levels of the stomach, be able to colonise the epithelium of the gastrointestinal tract of the host, should not be pathogenic and, last but not least, must be capable of exerting a growth promoting effect or a resistance to infectious diseases. The beneficial effects of probiotics are mainly contributed to a direct antagonistic effect against specific groups of microorganisms (Enteropathogenes), by an effect on the metabolism in the gut or by a stimulation of systemic or mucosal immunity. We will present major proven health benefits of milks fermented with those bacterial species and discuss, where possible, the impact of the specific selection and utilisation of particular strains. (C) 1997 Academic Press.