Nutritional Benefits of Lactic Acid Bacteria

The quest to find food ingredients with valuable bioactive properties has encouraged interest in exopolysaccharides (EPSs) from lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Functional food products that offer health and sensory benefits beyond their nutritional composition are becoming progressively more important in the food supply chain. Informed consumers are becoming increasingly more health conscious and more aware that disease prevention can be effected through dietary means and, more specifically, by particular components of foods. Although the sensory benefits of EPSs are now well established, more knowledge to fully understand how these polysaccharides can impact on human health and nutrition is needed. Because of the wide variation in molecular structures of EPSs, and the complexity of the mechanisms by which physical changes in foods and bioactive effects are elicited, the future commercial development of EPS-producing cultures and ingredients will depend heavily upon this platform of knowledge read more ...