Probiotics is a special group of health products on the market. The most common type of these is live cultures of lactic acid fermenting bacteria from raw milk . These include, among others, yogurt and various trademarks such as Hälsofil ®, Acidophilus ®, Dofilus ® and Kefir ®. Such products are often used by patients who are treated with antibiotics to combat the intestinal flora eliminated, thus causing digestive problems. The present work deals with yet another type of health product, viz. kefir of Tibetan type. A literature review of mainly Russian sources has been made to identify the nutrients and potential health benefits of kefir consumption in humans. The study sought to find data on the nutritional values of this very particular culture of a certain fungus, Zoogloea ramigera and some species of the genus Lactobacillus. However, this has not been found other than the data on the product, which is on the Swedish market under the brand Kefir, which is a product of a different nature than the Tibetan form of kefir. One source indicates, however, that among other things, it contains vitamin D, which would otherwise break down in this type of product. Part of the work is a study of the characteristics of the kefir culture for an intended technological process of production. The study shows that culture can be stored while maintaining viability by freezing to -70 ⁰ C. The culture is not affected by Gentamycin, which is a common antibiotic. Kefir culture tends to grow in the form of granules or lumps, which may be separated and reused for production. It is sensitive to metal ions, so that process equipment, intended for contact with kefir must be manufactured from other materials such as enamel or polymer-coated steel sheets. A study of cultural interaction with three different strains of intestinal bacteria showed very little impact on the cultivation on agar plate. In batch fermentation the pH of the kefir culture decreases to 3.4, which is slightly higher than the pKa of lactic acid. This pH is unfavorable for disease-causing bacteria and can be expected to limit growth of those in the human gastrointestinal tract upon ingestion.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mdh-7553 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Ekaterina, van der Haagen |
| Publisher | Mälardalens högskola, Institutionen för biologi och kemiteknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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