Technical considerations for incorporating bifidobacteria and bifidogenic factors into dairy products.
1996
Martin J.H.
Probiotic bacteria, such as bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus, have been promoted heavily on the basis of providing a wide range of beneficial effects of the host. Bifidobacteria have been widely accepted in Japan and Europe but in North America use is not widespread. Delivery systems for probiotic bacteria include "sweet" fluid milk products, yoghurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, buttermilk and frozen dairy desserts. Survival of bifidobacteria in acidic dairy products and during transit through the gastrointestinal tract, continues to be a problem. Some strains of Bifidobacter adolescentis and Bifidobacter longum survive well in yoghurt while selected strains of Bifidobacter bifidium and Bifidobacter breve were not as acid tolerant. When tested under conditions of simulated gastric digest, B. adolescentis, B. longum and B. infantis survived well (pH 2.0-3.0) for 1 h. B. bifidium showed poor tolerance to these conditions. B. bifidium, B. adolescentis and B. infantis had little resistance to either 2 or 4 per cent bile salts after a 12 h contact period, but B. longum remained active. Strain differences can be significant and manufacturers must pay attention to culture selection. At this point evidence suggests that B. longum is the organism of choice. Bifidogenic factors such as fructo-oligosaccharides, lactose or transgalactosylated oligosaccharides appeared to have no stimulatory effect on the growth of bifidobacteria in vitro; however, these compounds should not be overlooked for in vivo application.
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