Studying the probiotic potential of Greek fermented olives

Abstract

Functional foods have shown great increase in consumption along with rise in awareness of the health benefits and effects of novel food formulations. In this means, the probiotic potential is a new field for studies investigation that is growing very fast. Despite fermented dairy products being the most common probiotic sources, the performance of fruits and vegetables as carriers of probiotic strains is promising, especially of olives. The scope of this study is to examine the probiotic potential of nine olive products and their resistance to several stresses. The presence and survival of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) of each sample was investigated. The samples were exposed at pH 2 and bile salts in order to stimulate gastric and intestinal juices. They were examined after 1 and 3 hours of each treatment and after 6 hours of the 2 treatments together. The initial load, survival of the cells and viability after each treatment is analyzed and presented in this thesis. Many of the samples showed significant presence and resistance of LAB population when exposed to the stresses, which is meeting the FAO probiotic requirements.