Probiotics are beneficial to the host through its contribution to the development and maintenance of a healthy immune system. Some probiotics are used in the food industry as secondary starter cultures to ferment dairy products including Streptococcus thermophilus (ST). ST bacteria were used to determine their modulatory effects on a promonocytic cell line which exhibited differential cytokine induction, in particular, IL-4 and IL-10 which are important in injury, infection and play a central role in anti-inflammatory responses. CXCL8 and GM-CSF are also activated -important for chemotaxis and recruitment of cells at sites of inflammation, and, increased CD11c, CD86, C206, CD209, MHC-1 expression. As ST are used in the dairy industry, are well tolerated when consumed and remain viable during cold storage, their consumption might be a practical approach in modulating immune responses in the host, and be beneficial to an array of diseases, including, autoimmunity and inflammatory bowel diseases.

Sterols are important lipids related to the quality of olive oil and broadly used for checking its genuineness. Recent analyses have identified that some Australian olive oils would not meet international standards for total content of sterols or for certain individual components. Several research works indicate that there are some significant correlations between cultural and processing practices and sterols content and composition. In this work the horticultural and processing practices that may have an impact on the sterol content and profile of the most important Australian varieties were analysed. The information generated with this study aims to solve a legislation problem as well as maximising the nutritional and health benefits of Australian olive oils. The evaluation was undertaken using three different varieties and the processing practices evaluated were: irrigation, fruit size, maturity, malaxing time, malaxing temperature and delays between harvest and process. The total content of sterols and their composition in olive oil is strongly influenced by genetic factors and year. Processing practices particularly affect triterpene dialcohols and stigmasterol while horticultural practices and fruit characteristics tend to affect more significantly other sterols such as b-sitosterol, sitostanol, D5-avenasterol and D7-avenasterol.

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Consumption of probiotics contributes to a healthy microbiome of the GIT leading to many health benefits. They also contribute to the modulation of the immune system and are becoming popular for the treatment of a number of immune and inflammatory diseases. The main objective of this study was to evaluate anti-inflammatory and modulatory properties of Streptococcus thermophilus. We used peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors and assessed modifications in the mRNA expression of their genes related to innate and adaptive immune system. Our results showed strong immune modulatory effects of S. thermophilus 285 to human peripheral blood mononuclear cells with an array of anti-inflammatory properties. S. thermophilus 285 reduced mRNA expression in a number of inflammatory immune mediators and markers, and upregulated a few of immune markers. S. thermophilus is used in the dairy industry, survives during cold storage, tolerates well upon ingesting, and their consumption may have beneficial effects with potential implications in inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.

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