Probiotics

For use in foods, probiotic microorganisms should not only be capable of surviving passage through the digestive tract but also have the capability to proliferate in the gut. This means they must be resistantto gastric juices and be able to grow in the presence of bile under conditions in the intestines, or be consumed in a food vehicle that allows them to survive passage through the stomach and exposure to bile. Probiotic strains may mediate health effects through one or more of several identified mechanisms. Probiotics may affect the intestinal ecosystem by impacting mucosal immune mechanisms, by interacting with commensal or potential pathogenic microbes, by generating metabolic end products such as short-chain fatty acids, and by communicating with host cells through chemical signaling.