The survival of single strains of Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus reuteri was investigated in synbiotics that included 10 mg/ml of fructo-oligosaccharides, inulin and pectic-oligosaccharides in an alginate matrix under refrigerated (4 °C) aerobic storage conditions. When the matrices were cross-linked with calcium (45 mM), 102-103 cfu/ml of L. acidophilus and L. reuteri, and 0-103 cfu/ml of B. breve and B. longum survived refrigerated aerobic storage for 28 days. Following refrigerated storage, acetic (3-9 mM), butyric (0-2 mM), propionic (5-16 mM) and lactic acids (1-48 mM) were produced during the growth of probiotics in BHI broth at 37 °C, suggesting their metabolic activity after storage was stressed. When calcium cross-linking was not used in synbiotics, the matrix remained more gel-like after inoculation when compared to the calcium cross-linked matrix. At least 107 cfu/ml of probiotic bacteria survived after 21 days of storage within these gel-like alginate matrices. Significantly higher levels of B. breve, L. acidophilus and L. reuteri were obtained from the synbiotic matrices supplemented with fructo-oligosaccharides, inulin and pectic-oligosaccharides compared to alginate alone. B. longum survival was the same (~7 logs) in all gel-like synbiotic matrices. These results show that synbiotics protected probiotic bacteria and extended their shelf-life under refrigerated aerobic conditions. Synbiotics represent a viable delivery vehicle for health-promoting bacteria.

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