Addition of probiotics to baby food products

This Diploma thesis deals with preparation of probiotic cultures Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium breve enriched with prebiotics meant for application in baby food products. Natural extracts from matcha, moringa, young beat, young barley, chlorella and spirulina were selected as prebiotics. The theoretical part is focused on probiotic bacteria, their biological effects and their effects on the child´s body. The experimental part deals with the cultivation of probiotic bacteria with plant extracts, monitoring their viability and stabilization in an encapsulated form. Mixtures of probiotic cells with prebiotics were encapsulated into alginate particles to increase stability. Some of the alginate particles were processed by freeze drying. Mixtures of probiotic cultures with plant extracts were subjected to model human digestion by the action of model digestive juices in unencapsulated, encapsulated and lyophilized form. Selected extracts of plant materials were characterized in terms of amount of total and reducing sugars, total phenolic substances, individual phenolic substances and antioxidant activity. Further, two baby commercial dietary supplements containing probiotics were selected, which were characterized in terms of cell number and viability. Probiotic products were also subjected to model digestion