Non-dairy prebiotics: Conceptual relevance with nutrigenomics and mechanistic understanding of the effects on human health

The increasing health awareness of consumers has made a shift towards vegan and non-dairy prebiotics counterparts. Non-dairy prebiotics when fortified with vegan products have interesting properties and widely found its applications in food industry. The chief vegan products that have prebiotics added include water-soluble plant-based extracts (fermented beverages, frozen desserts), cereals (bread, cookies), and fruits (juices & jelly, ready to eat fruits). The main prebiotic components utilized are inulin, oligofructose, polydextrose, fructooligosaccharides, and xylooligosaccharides. Prebiotics' formulations, type and food matrix affect food products, host health, and technological attributes. Prebiotics from non-dairy sources have a variety of physiological effects that help to prevent and treat chronic metabolic diseases. This review focuses on mechanistic insight on non-dairy prebiotics affecting human health, how nutrigenomics is related to prebiotics development, and role of gene-microbes' interactions. The review will provide industries and researchers with important information about prebiotics, mechanism of non-dairy prebiotics and microbe interaction as well as prebiotic based vegan products.

Innovative approaches to the development of a new sour milk product

The topic provides an analysis of the current approach to healthy nutrition and represents a new functional fermented milk drink based on buttermilk containing natural prebiotics - a biologically valuable complex Spirulina platensis. The main tasks of the industry as a holistic system for the management and production of food ingredients and products are outlined. The work highlights the requirements for the quality and context of the functional product manufacture, the main criteria for the consumer choice, and positioning of products in the healthy lifestyle system. The topic covers the most common pro- and prebiotics, including strains. The unique food green microalgae Spirulina platensis as a source of biologically valuable components is proposed for industrial application. A technique for the production of the fermented milk drink based on buttermilk and spirulina as prebiotic was developed and scientifically substantiated. The protein contained in buttermilk is characterized by high nutritional value, exhibits functional properties and can significantly affect the quality of the drink. To confirm this, the possibility of using buttermilk with different protein content from 2.9 to 3.2 to improve the structure of the clot in the composition of the drink and the content of spirulina from 10 to 20% was studied.  As single criteria for optimizing the prescription composition of the drink at the different protein content of buttermilk used indicators of product quality - acidity, degree of syneresis, organoleptic parameters. The optimal values of the individual criteria are obtained in different ranges of protein content 3 times 1-2-2; sample 2-3.0; sample 3-3.2%, which allows you to get recommendations for the formulation of a new type of drink.

Recent progress in the use of functional foods for older adults: A narrative review

The number and proportion of older adults are increasing globally, and it is predicted that in 2020, there will be 723 million people worldwide aged 66 and older. In recent decades, numerous studies showed that healthy eating is positively associated with better nutritional status and quality of life, and the decreased incidence of noncommunicable diseases. As older adults become health conscious, the demand for foods and beverages rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds has increased. The increased demand for healthy food stimulated a recent rapid increase in designing, producing, and marketing functional foods to prevent or correct nutrient deficiencies and to improve the nutritional status of older adults. These functional products contain and/or are enriched with dietary fiber; omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids; phytoestrogens; polyphenols; carotenoids such as alpha- and beta-carotene; lutein and zeaxanthin; pre-, pro-, and synbiotics; and plant sterols and stanols. A limited number of publications have thoroughly addressed the effect of functional foods on the nutritional status of older adults. The goal of this review was to review existing recent research on the role of functional foods in healthy and active aging.