Probiotics: Health Benefit and New Ideas in Food Development

Dear Colleagues,

Functional foods have gained global scientific interest and space worldwide. Trends in consumption are now oriented to the promotion of health and the prolonging of life, not only to the coverage of energy needs and body-forming substances.

Among functional foods, the category of foods enriched with bioactive substances and bacteria is frequently mentioned. These foods have demonstrated a reduction in cancer risk, improvement of heart, gastrointestinal and urinary tract health, reduction in osteoporosis and stimulation of the immune system. They should be part of a daily balanced diet.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a large family of strains with probiotic properties used in the food industry for ameliorating the flavor, texture and shelf preservation period of many foods, such as dairy products, juices, meat products, etc.

LAB display numerous technological properties, such as fermentative activity, good survivability during freeze-drying/spray-drying and proper viability in food systems.

Biotechnology is the basic scientific technique used at present to produce functional foods. However, transgenic foods may be the future perspective of this issue.

Methods including immobilization and microencapsulation on different matrices are used in food production to increase the viability of probiotic strains.

Further investigation should take place in order to ameliorate the possibility for the survivability of probiotics in a variety of food systems.

Dr. Ioanna Mantzourani
Dr. Athanasios Alexopoulos
Dr. Plessas Stavros
Guest Editors

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