Search

Nowadays, consumers' food preferences are tending towards functional foods that are nutritious, healthy and effective in preventing diseases, thanks to advances in scientific and technological fields. Dairy-based probiotic foods constitute the majority of functional foods; however consumers who are vegetarian, allergic to milk protein and lactose intolerance have increased the demand for lactose-free, high-nutritional and low-cholesterol products. Therefore, new food matrices that support the probiotic growth have become a current research subject. In this context, fruits and vegetables are among alternative food matrices due to their rich in health beneficial components such as vitamins, minerals and phenolic compounds, as well as prebiotics, which promote the growth of probiotics, such as inulin, galactooligosaccharides and fructooligosaccharides. By using fruits and vegetables as probiotic carriers, healthier products with improved functional properties can be obtained. In order to develope fruit and vegetable-based probiotic beverages by different techniques, apple, orange, pineapple, carrot and beetroot are often used as raw materials while Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. casei, L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Bifidobacterium lactis are generally used as probiotic cultures. On the other hand, the growth and survival of probiotics in various raw materials may vary depending on factors such as probiotic strains and doses, pH of the medium, antimicrobial compounds, additives, oxygen level and technological processes used. Among the most frequently used techniques, microencapsulation, immobilization and prebiotics addition in order to protect the viability of probiotic. In this study, recent studies on the development of probiotic fruit and vegetable-based beverages were reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]