Vitamin Producing Lactic Acid Bacteria as Complementary Treatments for Intestinal Inflammation.

Background: Current therapies for against inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are sometimes limited by high costs, high toxicities and/or undesirable side effects, reasons for which new treatments are constantly being developed and studied. In this regards, an increasing mass of data has demonstrated that fecal transplantations and probiotic supplementations have shown promising effects and could be considered as adjunct IBD treatments to decrease some of the unwanted side effects caused by primary treatments. Furthermore, there is also mounting evidence that suggests that certain vitamins could provide antiinflammatory effects and it has been shown that certain strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), the most commonly used probiotic microorganisms, can produce biologically active forms of certain vitamins.

Evaluation of the effect of soymilk fermented by a riboflavin-producing Lactobacillus plantarum strain in a murine model of colitis.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are idiopathic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract characterised by recurrent inflammation that require lifelong treatments. It has been shown that certain strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) can produce specific health-promoting compounds in foods or in the gastrointestinal tract that can in turn prevent and/or treat IBD. This study was designed to evaluate the possible therapeutic potential of soymilk fermented by the riboflavin-producing strain Lactobacillus plantarum CRL 2130 in a trinitrobenzene sulfonic induced colitis mouse model.

Bacteria as vitamin suppliers to their host: a gut microbiota perspective.

Food-related lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as well as human gut commensals such as bifidobacteria can de novo synthesize and supply vitamins. This is important since humans lack the biosynthetic capacity for most vitamins and these must thus be provided exogenously. Although vitamins are present in a variety of foods, deficiencies still occur, mainly due to malnutrition as a result of insufficient food intake and because of poor eating habits.

B-group vitamin production by lactic acid bacteria--current knowledge and potential applications.

Although most vitamins are present in a variety of foods, human vitamin deficiencies still occur in many countries, mainly because of malnutrition not only as a result of insufficient food intake but also because of unbalanced diets. Even though most lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are auxotrophic for several vitamins, it is now known that certain strains have the capability to synthesize water-soluble vitamins such as those included in the B-group (folates, riboflavin and vitamin B(12) amongst others). This review article will show the current knowledge of vitamin biosynthesis by LAB and show how the proper selection of starter cultures and probiotic strains could be useful in preventing clinical and subclinical vitamin deficiencies.

Risk assessment of genetically modified lactic acid bacteria using the concept of substantial equivalence.

The use of food-grade microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is one of the most promising methods for delivering health promoting compounds. Since it is not always possible to obtain strains that have the ability to produce specific compounds naturally or that produce them in sufficient quantities to obtain physiological responses, genetic modifications can be performed to improve their output. The objective of this study was to evaluate if previously studied genetically modified LAB (GM-LAB), with proven in vivo beneficial effects, are just as safe as the progenitor strain from which they were derived.