Abstract
Several health benefits are associated with the consumption of probiotic foods. Lyophilized probiotic cultures are commonly used to manufacture probiotic-containing products. Spray drying (SDR) is a cost-effective process to microencapsulate probiotics. However, the high temperatures of the drying air in SDR can inactivate significant numbers of probiotic cells. Ultra-high-pressure homogenization (UHPH) processing can modify the configuration of proteins found in skim milk which may increase its protective properties as microencapsulating agent towards probiotic cells during SDR. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of microencapsulating probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum NRRL B-1927 (LP) with UHPH-treated skim milk after SDR or freeze drying (FD). Dispersions containing LP were made with either UHPH-treated (at 150 MPa or 300 MPa) or untreated skim milk and dried via concurrent SDR (CCSD), mixed-flow SDR (MXSD) or FD. Higher cell survival (%) of LP was found in powders microencapsulated with 150 MPa-treated skim milk than in those microencapsulated with non-UHPH-treated and 300 MPa-treated skim milk via FD followed by MXSD and CCSD, respectively. Increasing UHPH pressures increased the particle size of powders produced via CCSD; and reduced particle agglomeration of powders produced via MXSD and FD. This study demonstrated that UHPH processes improves the effectiveness of skim milk as a microencapsulating agent for LP, creating powders that could be used in probiotic foods.
Highlights
Multiple health benefits have been associated with the consumption of probiotic-containing foods or supplements, including the reduction and/or prevention of diarrhea, the improvement of the balance of intestinal microbiota, and the reinforcement of mucosal defenses against pathogens [1].An increased demand for functional foods by health-conscious consumers has driven the food industry to develop alternative strategies to incorporate probiotics into foods
Log reductions of Lactobacillus plantarum NRRL B-1927 (LP) cells were observed in powders microencapsulated with non-Ultra-high-pressure homogenization (UHPH)-treated skim milk than in powders microencapsulated with UHPH-treated skim milk, which suggests that the UHPH processing modified some intrinsic properties of skim milk to a degree, which improved its protective properties towards LP cells during microencapsulation
The study demonstrated that the effectiveness of skim milk as microencapsulating agent for probiotic LP can be increased via UHPH processing
Summary
Multiple health benefits have been associated with the consumption of probiotic-containing foods or supplements, including the reduction and/or prevention of diarrhea, the improvement of the balance of intestinal microbiota, and the reinforcement of mucosal defenses against pathogens [1].An increased demand for functional foods by health-conscious consumers has driven the food industry to develop alternative strategies to incorporate probiotics into foods. Multiple health benefits have been associated with the consumption of probiotic-containing foods or supplements, including the reduction and/or prevention of diarrhea, the improvement of the balance of intestinal microbiota, and the reinforcement of mucosal defenses against pathogens [1]. Since many probiotic strains are unlikely to colonize the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract via a traditional diet, the consumption of probiotic-rich and probiotic-supplemented foods has been recommended to obtain the associated benefits. This advice has driven the surge of probiotic containing products in the marketplace [2]. The majority of probiotic microorganisms used in foods are bacteria from one of two genera: Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium [3,4]. Lactobacillus plantarum NRRL B-1927 (LP) is a Gram-positive, microaerophilic, lactic acid-producing, non-spore-forming, probiotic bacterium originally isolated from sauerkraut and Molecules 2020, 25, 3863; doi:10.3390/molecules25173863 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules
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