Impact of probiotics and prebiotics on food texture

• Published in: Current opinion in food science 2020-06, Vol.33, p.38-44
• Main Authors: Guimarães, Jonas T, Balthazar, Celso F, Silva, Ramon, Rocha, Ramon S, Graça, Juliana S, Esmerino, Erick A, Silva, Márcia C, Sant’Ana, Anderson S, Duarte, Maria Carmela K H, Freitas, Monica Q, Cruz, Adriano G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2214-7993; 2214-8000
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cofs.2019.12.002

[Display omitted] •Functional food definition and health benefits were approached.•Probiotics and prebiotics are important functional ingredients with texturizing properties.•Food texture may influence the acceptance, food intake and satiety.•Inulin, FOS and GOS had the most interesting effects in viscosity, consistency and firmness.•Texture changes by probiotics are mainly related to the production of EPS by lactic acid bacteria. Functional food is the trend of the future, since our current science allows the manufacturing of processed products with health benefits beyond that of the original food, which meets the demand of the modern consumers. However, many functional ingredients may affect the products characteristics, including the texture, which is very important to the consumer’s acceptance. Probiotics (Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., etc.) and prebiotics (inulin, fructooligosaccharides, Galactooligosaccharides, etc.) are widely studied functional ingredients and may change the texture of the food, improving it or not. Studies are then focusing on developing functional products with improved textural characteristics associating the healthy feature with the sensory one, thus, adding great value for these products.