Dr Nivedita Sharma
Dr Y S Parmar university of Horticulture & Forestry, Nauni, Solan, H.P., India
Title: Probiotic enriched functional foods and their nutritional aspects
Biography
Biography: Dr Nivedita Sharma
Abstract
Probiotic enriched functional foods are health promoting foods that contain bioactive compounds and having pleasant aroma, flavor and texture and maintain the equilibrium and intestinal microflora. Fermented foods and beverages have diversity in cultural preferences and traditions found in the different geographical areas, where they are produced. Ethnic food of Indian Himalayas is rich in fermented practices but hardly has ever been explored to assess the diversity of lactic acid, their characterization as effective probiotics with therapeutic potential. Fermented food is rich in lactic acid bacteria which have GRAS status conferred by WHO. Most of them when evaluated qualify the status of good probiotics and have been found to play a significant role in promoting health of consumers. These probiotics can further be exploited to prepare a range of functional foods with special focus on improving health besides nutrition. In the present study, different novel strains of LAB have been isolated, identified and characterized from traditional fermented foods of Indian Himalayas with unique therapeutic properties and explored to design functional foods. Different ethnic foods of Indian Himalayas viz. dairy products and alcoholic beverages were explored for isolating Lactic acid bacteria on MRS agar. These isolates were further characterized as probiotics by analyzing their primary and secondary attributes and antimicrobial activity. Potential strains showing high score as probiotics were identified using 16SrRNA gene technique. Their therapeutic potential in terms of antioxidant activity, cholesterol reduction and anti carcinogenic nature has been assessed. The potential probiotic strains out of them were selected for functional food preparation. The probiotic enriched food products viz fruit juices/ yoghurt had been prepared. Their respective recipes were standardized and products formulated had been adjudged for their nutritional profile, sensory as well as viability of probiotics during storage period. Their compositional analysis i.e. Antioxidants , Proteins, Dietary fibers, Ascorbic acid, TSS, Total sugars, Carbohydrates , pH and Fats etc. had been accomplished to label these products as health promotor in nature. Bioavailability of probiotics in free form and encapsulated matrices was compared to ascertain them effective as per WHO recommendation i.e. probiotic load of 108CFU/ml in the samples. The novel strains of probiotics used in food products were L. paracasei S1 (free), L. rhamnosus KC6 (free) , L. paracasei S1 + L. rhamnosus KC6 , L. paracasei S1 (encapsulated), L. rhamnosus KC6 (encapsulated), L. paracasei S1+ L. Rhamnosus KC6 (encapsulated), P. pentosaceous LB-CC, P. pentosaceous LB-WC, P. acidilactici Ch and P. damnosus 107 which had been isolated, identified, registered with NCBI, US for respective accession numbers, characterized for their probiotic attributes along with their safety assessment in our research laboratory.