CERELA   05438
CENTRO DE REFERENCIA PARA LACTOBACILOS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Vitamin production by lactic acid bacteria: Their role in gut and foods
Autor/es:
LEBLANC, J.G.
Lugar:
Foz do Iguaçu
Reunión:
Congreso; MicroAl 2014; 2014
Resumen:
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), widely used as starter
cultures for the fermentation of a large variety of foods, can improve the
safety, shelf life, nutritional value, flavour and overall quality of the
fermented products. In this regard, the selection of strains delivering
health-promoting compounds (such as nutraceuticals) is the main goal of several
studies. Among these studies, vitamin production by LAB has recently gained
attention of the scientific community. Food-related lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as well as human gut commensals
such as bifidobacteria can de novo synthesize and supply vitamins. This is
important since humans lack the biosynthetic capacity for most vitamins and
these must thus be provided exogenously. Although vitamins are present in a variety
of foods, deficiencies still occur, mainly due to malnutrition as a result of
insufficient food intake and because of poor eating habits. Fermented foods with
high levels of B group vitamins (such as folate and riboflavin) can be produced
by the adequate selection of starter cultures and could be a cost-effective
alternative to current vitamin fortification programs. In order to identify
technologically interesting LAB with the capacity to produce vitamins, many
screening trials have been performed in a wide variety of ecological niches,
such as traditional fermented foods, plants, and the gastrointestinal tract of
different animals including humans. Also, because many LAB are currently being
used as probiotics, the evaluation of their vitamin biosynthetic capacities is
also gaining interest in the scientific community. In addition, the use of
genetic engineering strategies to increase vitamin production in strains with
technological or probiotic characteristics or to create novel vitamin producing
strains is also a viable solution for vitamin deficiencies. From another point of view,
it has recently been shown that some commensal bacteria in the human gut,
especially bifidobacteria, can de novo synthesize and supply vitamins to their
host. Thus, the use of B-group vitamin producing LAB in the design of novel
functional foods will be discussed as will their potential role as part of the
commensal microbiota to deliver vitamins in situ; both strategies are important
in order to help in the prevention of vitamin deficiencies.