CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Some Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) have the ability to produce certain vitamins such as the watersoluble B Group vitamins folate, riboflavin, thiamine, etc. Vitamin production is a strain dependenttrait. Growth media, food matrix and the conditions of the gastrointestinal tract can all affect vitaminproduction. Wild types strains isolated from a wide range of ecological niches (foods, animals, plants)and genetically modified LAB have been used in order to produce novel vitamin bioenriched foods.These foods or some of the vitamin producing strains have been able to exert beneficial effects inlaboratory animal models and could be used for human consumption or animal production. Also, othernon-nutritional functional properties of vitamin producing LAB such and anti-inflammatory, anticolitis,anti-mucositis, anti-neurodegenerative and potential anti-cancer effects have also been shown.These newly identified strains could be used as an economically feasible alternative to chemicalfortification with folic acid (that does not exist in nature and that can cause many undesirablesecondary effects) in order to provide health promoting effects to human and other animals health andwell-being.