Anais do Simpósio Latino Americano de Ciências de Alimentos
Proceedings of 14 SLACA - Latin American Symposium on Food Science

Limosilactobacillus reuteri is a recognized probiotic bacterium accepted as food supplement to improve gastrointestinal health. Probiotics are defined as bacteria and yeasts that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer health benefits to the host. Although the unquestionable positive perspective for health promotion, these microorganisms presented limitations due to decreased cell viability after exposure to environmental factors, thus the bacterial encapsulation is a useful approach to protect bacterial cells. Several hydrocolloid materials can be used to encapsulate microorganisms, the alginates are commonly used. However, its use results in the formation of porous particles and its combination with mucilaginous hydrocolloids can improve the beads properties. The aim of this study was to improve the survival under storage (5°C) and simulated gastrointestinal conditions of L. reuteri DSM 20016 encapsulated in alginate beads containing cassia tora (Cassia tora Linn.) gum. Obtained by extrusion in calcium chloride (20g/L), the beads were constituted of alginate (20g/L) (C) and cassia tora gum (10g/L) (CG) containing approximately 9 log CFU/g of L. reuteri. No decrease in the number of L. reuteri viable cells in CG was detected for 12 days of storage (p>0.05). The total reduction in viable cell count after 30 days of storage was 0.75 log CFU/g in CG, while C showed a sharp decrease of 2.88 log CFU/g (p<0.05). The encapsulation process protected the encapsulated cells under simulated gastrointestinal environments. After exposure to gastric and enteric juices, higher survival cell rate was detected in CG (72.62%), while free cells and C showed 31.84 and 54.8%, respectively (p<0.05). Thus, although until now there have been no literature records regarding the use of cassia tora gum to encapsulate probiotics, its use with alginate favors the L. reuteri survival during storage and protected the encapsulated cells under gastric and enteric environments, demonstrating to be an efficient bacterial carrier.