The success of probiotics for boosting human health may depend partly upon the food, beverage, or other material carrying the probiotics, according to research published on July 10th in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
“Our findings indicate that the manner in which a probiotic is delivered—whether in food or supplement form—could influence how effective that probiotic is in delivering the desired health benefits,” said corresponding author Maria Marco, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology, at the University of California at Davis.
In the study, the researchers investigated the probiotic strain, Lactobacillus casei BL23 in a mouse model of colitis, or inflammation of the colon. The mice that ingested the probiotic in milk had reduced symptoms compared to those that were fed milk without the probiotic, and the ones that received the probiotic within a nonfood supplement.