Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics: Bioactive Foods in Health Promotion reviews and presents new hypotheses and conclusions on the effects of different bioactive components of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics to prevent disease and improve the health of various populations. Experts define and support the actions of bacteria; bacteria modified bioflavonoids and prebiotic fibrous materials and vegetable compounds. A major emphasis is placed on the health-promoting activities and bioactive components of probiotic bacteria. - Offers a novel focus on synbiotics, carefully designed prebiotics probiotics combinations to help design functional food and nutraceutical products - Discusses how prebiotics and probiotics are complementary and can be incorporated into food products and used as alternative medicines - Defines the variety of applications of probiotics in health and disease resistance and provides key insights into how gut flora are modified by specific food materials - Includes valuable information on how prebiotics are important sources of micro-and macronutrients that modify body functions

A comprehensive overview on the advances in the field, this volume presents the science underpinning the probiotic and prebiotic effects, the latest in vivo studies, the technological issues in the development and manufacture of these types of products, and the regulatory issues involved. It will be a useful reference for both scientists and technologists working in academic and governmental institutes, and the industry.

Ch.1 -- Molecular methods in microbial ecology; Ch.2 -- Taxonomy of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria; Ch.3 -- The microbiology of lactobacilli in the gastrointestinal tract; Ch.4 -- Exopolysaccharide production by intestinal lactobacilli; Ch.5 -- Beyond genome sequences: approaches to genome-wide analysis of gut bacteria; Ch.6 -- Molecular interactions of commensal enteric bacteria with the intestinal epithelium and the mucosal immune system: implications for chronic intestinal inflammation; Ch.7 -- Genetically modified probiotics; Ch.8 -- Bacterial therapeutics for the treatment and prevention of urogenital infections; Ch.9 -- Prebiotics and the infant microbiota; Ch.10 -- The tangled bank and gut microbial ecology.

While there is little dispute that probiotics and prebiotics, alone and together, have been proven to promote gastrointestinal health and proper immune function, the challenge faced by researchers is finding not only the right combinations, but also finding those that are fully compatible with the formulation, processing, packaging, and distribution of functional foods. This volume comprehensively explores these variables and highlights the most current biological research and applications. It examines the sources of prebiotics and probiotics, describes the physiological functions of both products, and discusses promising applications for a plethora of disorders.

Probiotic bacteria are found in the intestinal microbiota of the host and favor multiple metabolic reactions. Prebiotics provide food for probiotic bacteria and have an effect on their own performance in favor of host health. Numerous metabolic and immunological mechanisms are involved in its effects. Probiotics have been studied for several decades and their use for human consumption is still unclear. However, new types of molecules with prebiotic functions and components of probiotic bacteria with therapeutic potential are still being studied. The versatility of these molecules makes their incorporation into human food and animal diets feasible. This book is a compendium of recent scientific information on the use of probiotics and prebiotics for the benefit of human and animal health.

Probiotic and Prebiotics in Foods: Challenges, Innovations, and Advances reviews recent advances, innovations, and challenges in probiotics/prebiotics in food and beverages. The book presents up-to-date, novel and extensive information regarding recent research and applications in probiotics and prebiotics in food. Sections address probiotics, prebiotics, paraprobiotics and postbiotics, probiotics, prebiotics and bucal health, probiotics, prebiotics and obesity, probiotics, prebiotics and sleep quality, in vitro and in vivo assays for selection of probiotics, probiotics and mycotoxins, edible films added to probiotic and prebiotics, predictive microbiology applied to development of probiotic foods, non-bovine milk products as probiotic and prebiotic foods, emerging technologies, and much more. Written for food scientists, nutritionists, health professionals, food product developers, microbiologists, those working in food safety, and graduate students and researchers working in academia, this book is a welcomed resource on the topics discussed. Includes coverage of both dairy and non-dairy probiotics, prebiotics and symbiotic food products Discusses the efficacy of food substrate in probiotic and prebiotic delivery Presents predictive microbiology models

The dramatic discovery that the lower gut is home to an enormous collection of bacteria has revolutionized the science of the digestive system, indeed, the entire body. This gut ecosystem is known as the microbiome. Good bacteria live here as well as bad bacteria that we would rather not have. Probiotics are live bacteria that we ingest in the hope that they take up residence in the lower gut and provide health benefits. Prebiotics, on the other hand, are the plant fibers that are the fuel for the whole system and are the ones that make it work maximally for our benefit. Frank Jackson M.D., a clinical gastroenterologist, provides a physician s look at this whole system. He does it with a clinician s approach by talking in plain language that is understandable by everyone. He takes us through the science underlying the complex bacterial factory that we all have. Then he discusses how the function of the gut and its bacterial actors participate in the dynamics of many of the common gastrointestinal disorders. These include Crohns Disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac and gluten disorders, diverticulosis, bowel cancer, even obesity and diabetes. All of these and many more have been found to have a pivotal link with the bacterial ecosystem which is uniquely our own. In addition, he explains in easily understandable detail how these bacterial friends act to protect us our entire lives if we give them what they need to play their respective roles well. Dr. Jackson has a long background in writing patient education materials so he is well qualified to take a complex subject like the microbiome and make it understandable for everyone. Additionally his life story is not just as a patient educator but also as an innovative and inventive discoverer of medical devices. He is uniquely capable of providing the knowledge of how prebiotics in our foods and some supplements make them the pivotal player in what now appears to be the concert of the intestinal microbes that communicate with almost every organ system in the body.