APPLICATION OF PROBIOTICS IN FOLATE BIOFORTIFICATION OF YOGHURT.

Background and Aim: Folate deficiency is a worldwide health problem affecting people in all life spam. It is founded that adding probiotic bacteria in combination with yogurt starter culture during yogurt production process and under fermentation condition lead to increase in folate content of yogurt. Methods: we used probiotic bacteria including; 1) conventional yogurt containing Streptococcus thermophiles (S.t) and Lactobacillus bulgaricus (L.b), 2) conventional probiotic yoghurt containing Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis in co-culture with S.t and L.b, 3) probiotic yoghurt containing native strain of Lactobacillus plantarum in co-culture with S.t and L.b,, 4) probiotic yoghurt containing native strain of Lactococcus lactis in co-culture with S.t and L.b,, 5) probiotic yoghurt containing commercial strain of Lactobacillus plantarum in co-culture with S.t and L.b,for bio-fortification of yogurt. During the 21 days of storage time at 4°c, we measured two folate derivatives (5-Methyl tetrahydrofolate and 5-Formyl tetrahydrofolate) in bio-fortified yogurt samples.Results: Highest level of 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate and 5-Formyltetrahyrofolate was measured for yoghurt manufactured by native Lactobacillus plantarum.. In the present study, 100 mL of yoghurt containing native L. plantarum would contribute to 37% of RDA, thus it is classified as a good source of folate.Conclusion: It seems that this product can be a proper alternative for synthetic folic acid and may not have side effects of overdose intake of synthetic form.

کلیدواژه ها:

folate ، biofortification ، yogurt