Dietary supplement probiotics

Lactic acid bacteria with defined functionalities play a major role as starter cultures for the production of fermented foods such as yogurt, cheese, bread or fermented drinks. Additionally, specific strains of lactic acid bacteria are also widely used as health promoting additives. These so-called probiotics are added to the food in hi cell numbers to enhance their functional properties or are marketed in isolated form as special dietary supplements. Probiotics are frequently distributed as dry powder. 

Probiotics Dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial bacteria that promote health by stimulating optimal mucosal immune responses. 

To ensure the safety of food products, representative samples must be inspected so that foodborne bacteria can be identified.15,18,19 Bacteria producing heat-stable enterotoxins, such as Staphylococcus aureus, may be identified by biochemical and serological techniques.20,21 Molecular methods are now widely used for the identification of many pathogenic foodborne bacteria,15,22,23 In addition bacteria used as starter cultures for cheese, yogurt, other fermented foods and beverages, and probiotic dietary supplements may be identified for quality assurance.22,24,25... 

Production of femiented foods, probiotics (microbial dietary supplements). Genomic analysis should yield functional information to enable the design of lactic acid bacteria (e.g., Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium) better suited to indusdial processes or tailored to provide nuditional benefit. 

Frtrthermore, in all animal studies where mixtures of probiotics and prebiotics were examined, the effect of the combination was greater than the sttm of the two separately, suggesting a synergistic effect of symbiotic compotmds. Based on these studies, considerable attention is being paid to dietary components that can influence the coloitic microflora as well as supplemental probiotics as strategies for colon cancer prevention. 

Probiotics are live microbial dietary supplements that benefit the consumer. Probiotics are often normal flora found growing in or on the bodies of healthy individuals. They often serve important roles in protection against harmful microbes through competitive inhibition, or by producing nutrients necessary for health maintenance. 

Although probiotics are widely consumed as dietary supplements, the focus of the present chapter is on fermented probiotic foods. Most commercially available probiotics belong to the genera Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains from other genera are being marketed as well, but these rarely find application in fermented foods and will thus not be discussed here. 

Fourth, a probiotic must be safe for its intended use. The large majority of bacterial species used as probiotics have a long history of safe use in food this means that the whole body of knowledge available substantiates their safety as food products or dietary supplements and no toxicological studies are needed. However, it must be pointed out that, on the basis of long history of safe use, only the use in "healthy" people and via the oral route is warranted this implies that these bacteria are not necessarily safe whatever the conditions of the treated subjects or if administered, for example, in pathological settings. 

Fifth, a probiotic must undergo controlled evaluation to document health benefits in the target host. The most common health claims related to probiotics are structure—function claims, i.e., claims describing the role of dietary supplements in maintaining normal body structure or function these claims can not imply that a dietary component affects a disease state in terms of treatment/cure. ... 

Probiotics are described as "live microorganisms, which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host" (FAO/WHO, 2002). Bifidobacteria are largely used as probiotics in many food products such as yoghurt, milk, infant formula, cheese, and dietary supplements. The probiotic concept was recognized for the first time by Metchnikoff in 1908 when he observed that the introduction of some fermented foods in the diet had beneficial properties on human health. Since Metchnikoff s original observations, various researches confirmed the ability of probiotic strains to exert positive effects on the host s health status, such as immunostimulation, modulation of the intestinal microbiota, cholesterol reduction, alleviation of acute gastro-enteritis, short-chain fatty add (SCFAs) production, alleviation of constipation and the reduction of allergic disease symptoms, lactose intolerance and intestinal inflammation. ... 

Gill, H.S., Rutherfurd, K.J., Cross, M.L., and Gopal, P.K. 2001b. Enhancement of immunity in the elderly by dietary supplementation with the probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis HNO19. Am J... 

Markets have developed very differently in different regions. In Europe, products aimed at improving gut health, particularly those containing probiotics, dominate the market. In the USA, there is much wider interest in anti-cancer products and the use of botanicals, while gut health products remain relatively undeveloped. The greater use of dietary supplements in the USA has also influenced market development, with increasing numbers of products being launched that straddle the line between dietary supplements and food products. 

While probiotic dairy products dominate the European functional foods market, this is not the case in the USA, where the market remains comparatively unexploited. In Europe, the market is worth around US 1.3 billion a year, and is growing in most countries, mainly in the area of probiotic drinks rather than spoonable products. With the chilled dairy products market much less developed in the USA than in Europe, it is not surprising that the US market for probiotic yoghurts and other probiotic dairy lines is relatively small. In the USA, interest in probiotics has so far largely been confined to the dietary supplements market, although the recent withdrawal of a supplement version of Nestl6 s LCl brand indicates that there is still some way to go to gain US consumer acceptance of the probiotic concept. 

Salva, S., Merino, M.C., Agiiero, G., et al. (2012) Dietary supplementation with probiotics improves hematopoiesis in malnourished mice. PLoS One 7, e31171. 

Panda, A.K., Reddy, M.R., Rama Rao, S.V., and Praharaj, N.K. (2003) Production performance, serum/yolk cholesterol and immune competence of white leghorn layers as influenced by dietary supplementation with probiotic. Trap Anim... 

The causes of the beneficial effects resulting from the dietary supplementation of probiotics are diverse. In the passage that follows, each of the biocontrol activities that have been associated with probiotics are briefly mentioned. For examples from both research and practice and more detailed information, some excellent reviews have been written (Gatesoupe, 1999, 2010 Kesarcodi-Watson et al., 2008 Qi et al., 2009 Verschuere, 2000 Vine et al., 2006). 

Luoto, R., Laitinen, K., Nermes, M., Isolauri, E. (2010). Impact of maternal probiotic-supplemented dietary counselling on pregnancy outcome and prenatal and postnatal growth a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The British Journal of Nutrition, 103(11), 1792-1799. 

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