Survivability of probiotics under hostile conditions as affected by prebiotic-based encapsulating materials

Prebiotics-based encapsulation aids in improving the structure of microbeads and the survivability of probiotics. The current study focused on the exploration of a prebiotic-based encapsulation system (alginate-inulin) to improve the viability of probiotics under in vitro and carrier food. Probiotic (L. acidophilus) was encapsulated by the ionotropic gelation method. Microbeads with inulin inclusion were found to be compact and smooth with the highest encapsulation efficiency (98.87%) among the rest of the treatments. Alginate-inulin-based microbeads showed the highest count (8.41log CFU) as compared to other treatment as well free cells under simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Furthermore, alginate-inulin encapsulation maintained recommended (107–108 log CFU/ml) probiotic viability in carrier food throughout the storage period. Probiotic encapsulation aids in controlling the post-acidification of the carrier product (yogurt). The results of this study indicated that the alginate-inulin-based encapsulation system has promising potential to ensure the therapeutic number of probiotics in vitro as well in carrier foods.