Effect of ultrasound-attenuation on technological and functional properties of two strains of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum isolated from table olives.

While probiotics have a wide range of beneficial properties, they can also negatively affect the taste or aroma of foods products by resulting in the phenomenon of post-acidification. Ultrasound (US) is a tool to modulate the metabolism of probiotic bacteria, counteracting post-acidification and improving the performance and functional properties of microorganisms without affecting their viability. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the effect of 10 different combinations of power (20 and 40 %) and duration (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 min) of US treatment on two functional strains of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (c16 and c19) isolated from table olives, with the aim of understanding how, some of the main functional and technological traits (viability, acidification, growth profile under different conditions, antibiotic resistance, viability at pH 2.

An Update on Prebiotics and on Their Health Effects.

Prebiotic compounds were originally defined as "a nondigestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon, and thus improves host health"; however, a significant modulation of the definition was carried out in the consensus panel of The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), and the last definition states that "prebiotics are substrates that are selectively utilized by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit". Health effects of prebiotics compounds attracted the interest of researchers, food companies and Regulatory Agencies, as inferred by the number of articles on Scopus for the keywords "prebiotic" and "health effects", that is ca. 2000, for the period January 2021-January 2024.

Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations of Thymol and Carvacrol: Toward a Unified Statistical Approach to Find Common Trends.

Thymol and carvacrol are some of the most important and used components of Essential oils (EOs); they are widely studied, and there are much data available in the literature. Their Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values found in the literature from 2005 to present were used to assess the bioactivity toward yeasts, molds, Gram-positive bacteria, and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as on some bacterial species/serotypes ( sp., , O157:H7, lactic acid bacteria, , , , etc.

A narrative review on the use of probiotics in several diseases. Evidence and perspectives.

Gut microbiota is a complex ecosystem, strictly linked to health and disease, as a balanced composition (referred as eubiosis) is necessary for several physiological functions, while an unbalanced composition (dysbiosis) is often associated to pathological conditions and/or diseases. An altered microbiota could be positively affected and partially restored through probiotic supplementation, among others. This review addresses the effects of probiotics in several conditions, used as case-studies (colorectal cancer, neuro-psychiatric diseases, intestinal diseases, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, immune system, and musculoskeletal system disorders) by pointing out the clinical outcomes, the mode of action, mainly related to the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA), the impact of probiotic dose and mode of supplementation, as well as trying to highlight a hit of the most used genera.

Psycho-Microbiology, a New Frontier for Probiotics: An Exploratory Overview.

Probiotics are gradually gaining importance in the field of psychiatry in the form of psychobiotics. Psychobiotics' studies examine the existing relationship between gut microbiota and mental phenomena; the intake of certain strains of probiotics, such as and , for example, allow the gut microbial system to be modified in order to provide benefits at the psychic, immune, hormonal, and mental levels. Those who suffer from forms of depression, anxiety disorders, chronic stress, low mood, but also people who do not suffer from such disorders, can therefore benefit from the use of psychobiotics.