Prebiotics as protectants of lactic acid bacteria

SANTOS M.; GERBINO, E.; TYMCZYSZYN E,; GOMEZ ZAVAGLIA, A.

Ostrava

Congreso; 52nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Cryobiology; 2015

Society of Cryobiology

The important role of lactic acid bacteria as starters in theelaboration of dairy and pharmaceutical products highlights the requirement ofappropriate preservation processes. During these processes, the decreaseof water activity is the main cause of damage on bacterial structures. Therefore, protective compounds are necessary to avoidit, and polyhydroxylated compounds (i.e.: sugars) have been consistentlyused in this function.Prebiotics are widely known because of theirbeneficial health effects although their use as protectants has been scarcely explored.Vibrationalspectroscopy-based methods allow for monitoring biological processes in realtime without using exogenous reagents. In particular, near infraredspectroscopy (NIR) appears as a useful tool to conduct accurate analysis of thechanges occurring in the water structure, allowing a discrimination betweenamorphous and rubbery states. Therefore, its usefulness for the evaluation ofpreservation processes is evident.Inthis presentation, the efficiency of prebiotics (lactulose and galacto-oligosaccharidesof different composition) as protectants of freeze-dried lactic acid bacteriawill be addressed, together with the use of NIR to monitor and evaluate theprocesses.The awareness of consumers about the ingest ofhealthy products has strongly contributed to increase the demand of prebiotics.Their use as starters´ protectants appears as a promising tool to exploit noveluses, with great impact in the pharmaceutical and foodindustries.