Live culture probiotics
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The Role and Viability of Live Culture Probiotics
Introduction to Live Culture Probiotics
Live culture probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer health benefits to the host. These benefits include improving mental health, alleviating irritable bowel syndrome, and reducing serum cholesterol levels 1. The growing interest in probiotics is driven by their potential to enhance various aspects of human health.
Viability of Probiotic Supplements
One of the primary concerns with probiotic supplements is the viability of the live cultures they contain. The process of drying probiotic cultures can be challenging and may affect their viability. However, studies have shown that commercially available probiotics can indeed contain live microorganisms. For instance, an experiment focusing on Lactobacillus acidophilus found that all tested samples, including Florajen Acidophilus and Bayer's TruBiotics, showed growth after incubation, indicating the presence of live bacteria 1.
Innovative Applications in Food Services
The application of live bacteria in food services is a novel concept that includes both probiotics for health improvement and protective cultures for food safety. The main challenges in this sector include handling microbial preparations, ensuring culture viability, and obtaining regulatory approval. Despite these challenges, the use of live cultures in food services can lead to better nutrition and a wider range of safe, minimally processed meals 2.
Enumeration and Viability Assessment Techniques
Standard culture techniques are commonly used to quantify probiotic strains, but these methods only measure replicating cells. Some live probiotic microbes may enter a viable but non-culturable state (VBNC) due to processing stresses. Alternative methods such as fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) can enumerate both culturable and VBNC bacteria. These modern techniques offer rapid throughput and can provide a more accurate assessment of probiotic viability 3.
Probiotics in Animal Nutrition
Probiotics are also widely used in animal nutrition, including poultry and aquaculture. In poultry, probiotics can modify intestinal microbiota, stimulate the immune system, and enhance growth performance. They serve as a potential alternative to antibiotics, promoting gut health and nutrient utilization 5. In aquaculture, probiotics improve growth performance, disease resistance, and water quality, thereby minimizing the side effects of antibiotics 7.
The Probiotic Paradox: Live and Dead Cells
Interestingly, both live and dead probiotic cells can generate beneficial biological responses. This phenomenon, known as the probiotic paradox, suggests that dead cells can still exert anti-inflammatory effects and stimulate the immune system. For example, heat-killed Lactobacillus reuteri has shown similar antimicrobial activity against pathogens as live cells, indicating that the benefits of probiotics are not solely dependent on cell viability 68.
Probiotics and Lactose Intolerance
Probiotics have also been found to alleviate the symptoms of lactose intolerance. Studies have shown that probiotic bacteria in fermented and unfermented milk products can improve intestinal health and enhance immune responses, thereby reducing the clinical symptoms of lactose intolerance 9.
Safety Considerations
The safety of probiotics is of paramount importance, especially as new strains are continuously being commercialized. Lactobacilli, commonly used in probiotics, are generally considered safe. However, the safety of newly emerging strains needs to be assessed comprehensively at the strain level to ensure they are as safe as their conventional counterparts 10.
Conclusion
Live culture probiotics offer a range of health benefits, from improving gut health to enhancing immune responses. While the viability of these cultures can be affected by processing techniques, modern enumeration methods and innovative applications in food services and animal nutrition continue to advance the field. Both live and dead probiotic cells can confer health benefits, making them versatile tools in promoting overall health and well-being.
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Most relevant research papers on this topic
Probiotic Supplements: Are They Alive?
Commercially available probiotic supplements containing Lactobacillus acidophilus show promise in delivering adequate numbers of bacteria to consumers, despite drying techniques being challenging.
In Vitro StudyNovel applications of live bacteria in food services: probiotics and protective cultures
Live bacteria in food services can improve nutrition and food safety, but face challenges in handling, quality control, and marketing.
Highly CitedEnumeration of probiotic strains: Review of culture-dependent and alternative techniques to quantify viable bacteria.
Alternative methods like FISH, PCR, and cell sorting can accurately quantify both culturable and viable but non-culturable probiotic bacteria, improving enumeration accuracy and reliability.
Highly CitedProbiotics in marine larviculture.
Probiotics can effectively manipulate marine larval digestion systems, potentially reducing antibiotic resistance and reducing the need for extensive biosafety trials.
Highly CitedProbiotics (Direct-Fed Microbials) in Poultry Nutrition and Their Effects on Nutrient Utilization, Growth and Laying Performance, and Gut Health: A Systematic Review
Probiotics can enhance poultry growth and gut health, offering a potential alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in production.
Systematic Review
Rigorous JournalHighly CitedThe probiotic paradox: live and dead cells are biological response modifiers
Both live and dead cells in probiotic products can generate beneficial biological responses, with potential implications for production and application.
Highly CitedThe functionality of probiotics in aquaculture: An overview.
Probiotics in aquaculture improve growth performance, disease resistance, immunity, health status, gut microbiome, and water quality, while minimizing antibiotic side effects and boosting fish production and human health.
Literature ReviewHighly CitedHeat-killed Lactobacillus reuteri and cell-free culture supernatant have similar effects to viable probiotics during interaction with Porphyromonas gingivalis.
Lactobacillus reuteri has antimicrobial activity against Porphyromonas gingivalis and can be used in products without live bacteria, maintaining similar effects.
In Vitro StudyThe effects of probiotics in lactose intolerance: A systematic review
Probiotics show varying degrees of efficacy in alleviating lactose intolerance symptoms, with an overall positive relationship between probiotics and lactose intolerance.
Systematic ReviewHighly CitedComprehensive approaches for assessing the safety of probiotic bacteria
Probiotic bacteria, particularly lactobacilli, have potential health benefits, but their safety must be assessed at strain level using in vitro and in vivo tests using appropriate animal models.
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