Abstract
Novel functional food products might be an easy accessible and eligible approach to help reduce the risk of severe viral infections including SARS-CoV-2. Hence a product containing probiotics, propolis and cinnamon was developed and interferences of the ingredients were characterized. Yogurts were prepared using starter cultures with propolis (0.03%) and cinnamon in various concentrations (0.3%, 1%, and 2.5%). Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Streptococcus thermophilus, and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus were used as microorganisms for yogurt production. Chemical analysis revealed a decline of fat matter in the presence of propolis and/or cinnamon. Propolis had statistically significant suppressive effects on Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis as well as on Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus numbers (p < 0.05). These effects were diminished in the presence of increasing cinnamon concentrations. For Lactobacillus acidophilus a statistically significant reducing effect on the number of colonies was observed in all products investigated. Nevertheless all samples met the standard of recommended level of ≥ 106 viable cells/g of a product. Propolis showed an inverse effect on Streptococcus thermophilus by increasing its colony numbers in yogurts. The probiotic yogurt samples containing propolis (0.03%) and cinnamon (2.5%) gained the highest number of points in the sensory evaluation compared to control.
Highlights
Propolis has gained strong scientific interest during the current COVID-19 pandemic since it has proven antiinflammatory and immunoregulatory effects and potent antiviral activity against pathogens that cause severe syndromes, including those caused by coronavirusesJ Food Sci Technol (Berretta et al 2020; Lima et al 2020)
The findings revealed that the amount of fat decreases slightly in the presence of propolis and cinnamon, whereas the amount of fat free dry matters increased
In the course of global research on COVID-19 and related topics such as managing immune responses and various disease conditions, preventive approaches to SARS-CoV-2 infections are of utmost interest
Summary
Propolis has gained strong scientific interest during the current COVID-19 pandemic since it has proven antiinflammatory and immunoregulatory effects and potent antiviral activity against pathogens that cause severe syndromes, including those caused by coronavirusesJ Food Sci Technol (Berretta et al 2020; Lima et al 2020). Propolis has been shown to inhibit the attachment of SARS-CoV-2 to Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a major target of the virus for host cell invasion. Propolis has been shown to stimulate the adaptive immune response promoting prophylactic antiviral effects (Babaei et al 2016). It has been suggested that several essential oils express activity against SARSCoV-2 virus. Kulkarni et al (2020) evaluated the efficacy of various essential oils among others obtained from Cinnamomum zeylanicum to block the receptor binding domain (S1) subunit of spike (S) proteins of SARS-CoV-2. S1 protein is involved in the interaction with ACE2 receptors. The in-silico study revealed that cinnamaldehyde and cinnamyl acetate showed potential to inhibit S1 subunit of S proteins (Kulkarni et al 2020). Since SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with immune dysfunction and gut microbiota alterations, probiotics are recently as well under discussion as a preventive approach due to their positive impact on the microbiota composition and host immune functions (Hu et al 2021; Singh and Rao 2021)
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