Chapter 22 - Food Formulation to Increase Probiotic Bacteria Action or Population

Abstract

This chapter reviews the impact of food formulation and food processing on the survival, growth, and activity of probiotics and prebiotics as well as food quality and stability. The consumption of designed healthy foods is included in the trend toward long-term prevention of illness. It is in this scenario where probiotic, prebiotic, and symbiotic foods fit. Probiotics need to have clinically proven health benefits and be able to withstand large-scale cultivation, concentration, incorporation, and food manufacturing and storage. Prebiotics, as well as probiotics doses and types, need to be established to ensure that health benefits are accomplished, so reliable clinical data are needed to determine whether the probiotic counts and prebiotic dose used are sufficient for health benefits. The influence of the carrier must be examined bearing in mind the main constraints for the survival of probiotics: low oxygen tolerance and low acidity tolerance, and the convenience of the inclusion of prebiotics or growth-promoting factors in the formulation of probiotic foods. Future development in genomics should provide details on the physiological performance of health-promoting strains in a variety of environments that may lead to novel solutions for current and future challenges on probiotic foods development. A potential major problem of probiotics is the misuse of the term, as the term “probiotic” should be only applied to strains fulfilling the outlines as given in the guidelines of the World Health Organization.