Team:Uppsala/probiotics

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Probiotics

What is a probiotic?

Probiotic has been very important throughout human history. It has extensively been used for fermentation and food preservation and represents an ancient and very primitive form of biotechnology. They are also essential for our digestive health, they synthesize important nutrients and keep pathogenic bacteria in check. Studies have shown that probiotic play an important role in immunology and digestive functions and have effect in alleviating infectious diseases, diarrhea and some other illnesses. Today there are a lot of probiotic products on the market that are eaten for their health benefits.
Lactobacillus bulgaricus a species of Lactobacillus used in the production of yoghurt

Why work with lactobacillus?

Lactic acid bacteria are the biggest group of probiotic bacteria out of which many are a part of the Lactobacillus genus. Their long and extensive use as a probiotic means they have been proven safe to eat and make them suitable as a new probiotic chassi. Lactobacillus also have several other interesting properties. Lactobacillus is a gram-positive lactic acid bacterium. The name comes from that all lactobacillus transform lactose and some other sugar to lactic acid. The lactic lowers the pH levels. This ability together with their ability to express and export bacteriocins is what gives them their ability to outcompete other bacteria and gives them their food preserving properties. We used specifically three species of lactobacillus in our project: Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, Lactobacillus Plantarum and Lactobacillus Reuteri.

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