Resumo

The world’s interest on promoting health through functional foods is currently growing. Metchnikoff’s work on human longevity in the early 20th century, backed up by several case studies and reports triggered great interest on fermented foods and lactic acid bacteria as instruments to aid in the promotion of health. Since then, the probiotics subject has been the target of several discussions. Prebiotics came into the scope defined as unique substrates, that could be metabolized predominantly by beneficial integrants of a host’s indigenous microbiota or a limited group of exogenous microorganisms, which would benefit the host’ health upon regular administration. Symbiotics emerged in the subject as a combination of prebiotic substances and a mono- or multi-strain probiotic preparation, provided that the prebiotics involved can actually metabolize the prebiotics. However, metabolic characteristics are much too diverse in lactic acid bacteria, especially among Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species. Hence it is not possible to ensure that all strains of a species possess the same genetic predisposition toward substrate usage. For this reason, individual analysis should be carried out at the strain level for microorganisms with probiotic properties. In this work, we screened Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 8014 for its ability to maintain viability in a medium containing short-chain fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and long-chain inulin. Three conditions were created to assess that capability and perform comparative statistical analysis. For this, 3 tests were elaborated using modified MRS medium, one with 20 g/l glucose, one with 20 g/l of prebiotic mixture and one with 2 g/l representing fermentable carbohydrates present in the prebiotic powder. Results indicated significantly higher viability (p<0,01) in comparison to the control after 24 hour incubation period, although no significant difference was observed between prebiotic media and glucose containing media.