The role of probiotics as functional food components

Functional food components also known as nutraceuticals are those ingredients that provide a health benefit or desirable physiological effect beyond basic nutrition. These functional components include dietary fiber such as beta glucan, fatty acids such as omega-3 fatty acids, flavonoids, plant sterols, phytoestrogens, probiotics and prebiotics. According to recent marketing analyses, the functional food industry in the United States could double with estimate sales over $37.7 billion by 2007. This trend can be attributed to the growing consumer's interest in maintaining their health, their aim for the improvement of their children nutrition, and their increased awareness regarding the connection between health and diet. An impressive list of functional foods has been recently launched into the market. In 2005 alone, sixty-nine value-added new products, targeted specifically to the children's market, containing healthy omega-3 fatty acids, were introduced. We recognize the need to conduct research in the important area of functional foods. Therefore, our research group is focused on developing functional foods specifically containing probiotics. Probiotics, including bacteria from the genus Bifidobacterium, are lactic acid viable and metabolically active microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host including improvement of gastrointestinal health and the immune system. In particular, we are interested in developing an acid whey beverage fermented with lactic acid bacteria and yeast cultures containing probiotics as adjunct cultures added post-fermentation. Current research includes the isolation of lactic acid bacteria from commercial sources such as yogurt and probiotic capsules and the characterization of the isolates as Bifidobacterium for the incorporation into the acid whey fermented beverage as an adjunct culture.