Epigen and Its Application Prospects in Food and Beverage

June 27, 2024

01
The relationship between probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics?

According to the definition of FAO/WHO (2001), probiotics refer to active microorganisms that produce health benefits to the host when consumed in sufficient quantities.
Although this definition emphasizes that probiotics must meet their "live" requirements, recent studies have shown that inactivated or inactive probiotics, as well as their metabolic byproducts, can provide benefits for the health of the host.
In May 2021, the International Society for Probiotics and Probiotics (ISAPP) released a consensus statement on Postbiotics: Postbiotics refer to preparations of non living microorganisms and/or their components that are beneficial to host health.
So epigenetic factors, also known as metabolites, biological sources, or cell-free supernatants, refer to soluble factors secreted by living bacteria or released after bacterial lysis. These soluble factors can be short chain fatty acids, microbial components, functional proteins/enzymes, extracellular polysaccharides, cell lysates, and cell wall peptides (phosphoteichoic acid, lipoteichoic acid, peptidoglycans, etc.).
Probiotics are food ingredients or preparations that are not digested by the host. They can selectively stimulate the activity or growth of one or several resident bacteria in the colon, playing a role in promoting host health. Common prebiotics include inulin type fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, xylooligosaccharides, soy oligosaccharides, lactulose oligosaccharides, isomaltooligosaccharides, etc.
For the relationship between probiotics, prebiotics, and metabiotics, simply put: prebiotics promote the growth of probiotics, and probiotics metabolize to produce metabiotics. Conversely, postbiotics promote the use of prebiotics. Probiotics are like "food". Probiotics are the microorganisms themselves, while prebiotics are the result of probiotics consuming "food".

At present, the microbial community can be regulated through three methods: probiotics, prebiotics, and metabiotics, which provides potential opportunities for the development of functional food.

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02
How can postnatal elements support health?

Epigen is a completely new field, and although research on its application has just begun, scientific data has shown that it has different functional characteristics, including but not limited to: immune regulation, improving allergies, regulating gastrointestinal function, antioxidant effects, reducing inflammation, etc. Epibiotics have become a new method of intervening in the gut microbiota in recent years.

Some studies have shown that the gut microbiota can also generate neurotransmitters that promote mental health, including dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Butyrate is a type of epigenetic compound that has important characteristics for intestinal healing. In fact, it is the food required by the endometrial cells of colon blood vessels. Butyrate can reduce inflammation of the intestinal vascular intima, prevent intestinal leakage, promote healthy intestinal movement, improve metabolism, enhance brain function, and even prevent colon cancer. Other noteworthy epigenetic compounds include acetate and propionate. Together with butyrate, these three types of epigenetic compounds account for 95% of short chain fatty acids in the body.

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03
The application prospects of epigenetic elements in food and beverage industry

In the past few years, consumers have gained greater awareness and attention to the importance of nutrition and health, leading to the rapid rise of functional foods including probiotics. It is estimated that the global probiotic market will reach $69.3 billion by 2023.
The limited activity of probiotics is a necessary condition for their biological efficacy, making dairy products the most common carrier of probiotics. In the processing and storage of dairy products, the concentration of probiotics added needs to reach 10 ^ 6-10 ^ 9 CFU/g (mL) to maintain vitality. Moreover, the physicochemical indicators of probiotic carriers (pH value, protein, fat and carbohydrate content, water activity, presence of natural antibiotics), processing and storage conditions (time, temperature, inoculation rate, pH value, oxygen content, packaging materials), and other stress factors may have adverse effects on their survival rate and function.
In contrast, the latter generation is more stable and safer in industrial use. Therefore, compared with probiotics, its application in food and beverage has multiple technological advantages:
1. They have little or no interaction with compounds in food matrices or ingredients, thereby extending their shelf life.
2. They remain stable over a wide range of pH values and temperatures, and can be added to foods with higher acidity before heat treatment without affecting the function of post processing microorganisms, minimizing post processing microbial contamination.
3. According to the different products, the storage and transportation of post generation products may break free from the limitations of cold chain transportation, which not only facilitates the sinking of products to underdeveloped areas, but also saves product costs and losses.
4. Epibiotics do not alter the sensory characteristics of the product, and food and beverages containing them will avoid taste changes after fermentation.

The form of post fermentation products is generally a mixed fermentation liquid dried powder. Due to its good processing stability, it can be applied to general foods that require processing at room temperature, such as dairy products, beverages, baked goods, candy products, miso soup, etc. It can also be used as a separate raw material to prepare inactivated lactic acid bacteria powder, which has very broad development potential and application prospects.

Shaanxi Huike Botanical Development Co., Ltd. a integrated enterprise which is focus on natural products, Plant extract related products and services.We mainly focus on pharmaceutical, functional food, Freeze-dried powder,Natural Pigment,Homology of medicine and food,beverages and other business services.
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2024-06-27

Shaanxi Huike Botanical Development Co., Ltd.

Author:

Ms. Anne

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