Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXIV
Written by Liliana LUCA, Mircea OROIAN
Probiotics require proper encapsulation in order to allow development of useful products with biological activity. Survival of encapsulated probiotics was monitored as a function of the carbohydrate source and of time, over a period of 45 days. The starting material was a mixed culture of Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Lactobacillus plantarum with a concentration of 10¹¹ colony-forming unit/ml (CFU/ml). Standard culture medium with glucose allowed higher initial concentration of probiotics compared with oligofructose medium. However, reduction of viable probiotics in oligofructose supplemented microcapsules was of only 4 log CFU/g, while in glucose supplemented microcapsules was of 8 log CFU/g. Specifically, numbers of probiotics varied from 1010 CFU/g immediately after encapsulation to 10² CFU/g, after 30 days of storage for glucose supplemented microcapsules, while, for oligofructose supplemented microcapsules, numbers were 10¹ CFU/g initially and 106 CFU/g after 30 days. Our results indicates that oligofructose is a more effective prebiotic than glucose, allowing higher survivability of probiotics.
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