Writing in the journal LWT-Food Science and Technology, academics from Thailand noted that protecting probiotics infunctional synbiotic soft-drinks or dehydrated fruit juices - including the country’s popular mao luang juice – was a challenging area of study.
“Mao luang juice has become more popular consumption in Thailand because it contains high amounts of bioactive constituents including ascorbic acid and phenols, with antioxidant properties. In addition, induced hypertensive rats fed with maolaung pomace found to be have lowering blood pressure and improving hemodynamic status,” they wrote.
However, there was an absence of information on the suitability of Tiliacora triandra gum as a carrier material for enhancing the survival of probiotics in mao lung juice after spray drying – a favoured process to entrap probiotic cells due to its relatively low cost.
“Therefore, this research aimed to monitor the survivability of Lactobacillus casei 01 and Lactobacillus acidophilus LA5 after spray drying with mao luang juice plus maltodextrin, Tiliacora triandra gum and/or inulin, and under simulated gastrointestinal fluids. Changes of colon microbiome due to probiotic-maoluang juice powders in an in vitro colon model were also studied,” they wrote.
The extracted mao luang juice was blended with either 20% maltodextrin, or a mixture of 10% maltodextrin containing 10% Tiliacora triandra gum and/or 10% inulin, before pasteurization.
After cooling down to 25 °C, the probiotic cultures were individually inoculated into the pasteurised juices to obtain a bacterial concentration of roughly 1010 CFU/ml before spray drying.
Protective ability
The collected powders were then analysed, with researchers discovering that, the probiotic lactobacilli in mao luang juice powder encapsulated with maltodextrin plus Tiliacora triandra gum and maltodextrin plus inulin both showed protective ability against simulated stomach and small intestinal fluids.
After a six-hour incubation, the survival rates of the spray dried probiotics with Tiliacora triandra gum alongside maltodextrin increased by around 15-20%, comparing favorably to the inulin and maltodextrin figure of 20-21% respectively.
The Tiliacora triandra gum and inulin encapsulation also enhanced the accumulation of lactic acid, short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and beneficial colon bacteria (i.e. lactobacilli and bifidobacteria) whilst the levels of toxic ammonia and the populations of harmful bacteria (i.e. clostridia and fecal coliforms) were diminished.
“Therefore, this concluded that Tiliacora triandra gum can be used as an effective co-encapsulating material for spray drying probiotics. The benefit impacts of this probiotic product for improving of human health status should be further studied,” stated the researchers.
Source: LWT- Food Science and Technology
DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2016.12.013
“Spray drying probiotics along with maoluang juice plus Tiliacora triandra gum for exposure to the in vitrogastrointestinal environments”
Pittaya Chaikham, et al.
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