Presenter: Niharika Mishra, College of Science, Microbiology
Authors: Craig Oberg, Michele Culumber, Niharika Mishra
Faculty Advisors: Craig Oberg, College of Science, Microbiology
Institution: Weber State University
Dairy-based products are often used as delivery systems for probiotics. Unfortunately, many people miss the benefits of probiotic-enhanced products because they cannot consume dairy foods due to lactose intolerance or allergies. Our research explores using plant-based products as a delivery system for probiotics. Previous research showed promising results, but many commercial products contain phosphate salts which have been shown to inhibit some probiotic lactobacilli. Our research examined the growth of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in a plant-based product, “oat milk,” and the impact of phosphate salt preservatives on LAB growth. Oat-based beverages with phosphate-containing salts were inoculated with 24 h cultures of commercial probiotic strains: Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5, Bifidobacterium BB12, Lb. casei 431, Lb. casei F-19, Lb. rhamnosis BLC-48, and Lb. rhamnosis LGG. LAB survival was enumerated using MRS agar for Lactobacillus and MRS+cystine for Bifidobacterium strains. Plates were incubated anaerobically at 35ºC with counts done at day 0, 7, and 14. Results showed some strains of LAB grew in the oat-beverages with or without added salts and that all cultures survived, regardless of the composition, however, most strains preferred growth in specific brands. Simple Truth “oat milk” brand gave the best growth results for most strains. We expect differences in probiotic strains growth was due to the composition of each brand. The protocol was repeated using only Chobani oat-beverage products that were either treated with phosphate salts or left untreated. All cultures survived independent of the phosphate concentration, but most did not grow over the 14 days of refrigerated incubation. Four of five strains survived approximately 10-fold better in the treated product. These results show the addition of phosphate-containing salts as stabilizers in “oat milk” do not inhibit most probiotic strains so it can be used as a probiotic delivery system.