In food form, some probiotics have a better chance to promote health
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 11:31
in Health & Medicine
Functional foods containing bacteria with beneficial health effects, or probiotics, have long been consumed in Northern Europe and are becoming increasingly popular elsewhere. To be of benefit, however, the bacteria have to survive in the very hostile environment of the digestive tract. A group of scientists from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås, Norway have developed a "model gastric system" for evaluating the survival of bacteria strains in the human digestive system, and determined that some bacteria strains survive better when consumed as fermented milks. Their results are published in the February issue of the Journal of Dairy Science.