Probiotics according to FAO are live microorganisms which taken in adequate amounts as food, have a beneficial effect on the health of the host. According to Japanese scientists the recommended amount of live microorganisms in the probiotic product must be at least 107 live microorganisms per gram or milliliter for the beneficial effect of the products. According to European scientists the minimum required concentration of live probiotic cells per gram must be in the range of 106 to 109 at the time of consumption in order to obtain a favourable result.
Probiotic microorganisms belong mainly to the genera Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Bifidobacterium, Enterococcus, Pediococcus or Saccharomyces, as microorganisms from the genus Lactobacillus are most often used as probiotics.
Today Bulgaria continues to be an important “reservoir” for the isolation of natural strains of lactic acid probiotic microorganisms. The most renowned from them is Lactobacillus bulgaricus.
Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus helveticus are of vegetable origin and are isolated from green plants. Lactobacillus bulgaricus can be isolated from plants and spring water only in the territory of Bulgaria. In other regions of the world it mutates and stops its reproduction.
Lactobacillus bulgaricus carries out homofermentative lactic acid fermentation in which it produces only lactic acid and bacteriocins (beneficial substances), without formation of alcohol and acetic acid. In contrast, the other probiotic bacteria cause heterofermentative lactic acid fermentation. Lactobacillus acidofilus produces alcohol and the Bifidobacterium produces acetic acid and smaller amounts of the useful lactic acid. Unlike the other probiotic lactobacilli that produce L (+) lactic acid, Lactobacillus bulgaricus produces D (-) lactic acid during the lactic acid fermentation. It determines its powerful probiotic health effects. Lactobacillus bulgaricus also produces the antimicrobial compound Bulgarican, which is heat resistant and active against highly virulent (pathogenic) strains of microorganisms.
Basic index for the beneficial effect of probiotics on organism is their ability to adhere (adhesion) to the intestinal mucosa which stimulates the immune system. Studies of the Italian scientist Bianchi S. (1999) show that compared with the other probiotic bacteria, Lactobacillus bulgaricus adheres best to the colon mucosa with subsequent fast multiplication in the body. This determines its more powerful healing and detoxifying effect than that of the other probiotic microorganisms.
Lactobacillus bulgaricus can multiply only together with Streptococcus thermophilus. This is the traditional yeast for Bulgarian yoghurt. Yoghurt is a Thracian word which means solid hard milk. A standard for yoghurt was established in Bulgaria observing the European origin standards. According to this standard yoghurt may contain only Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. When cultivated together, there is a primary cooperation (associative link) between Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. This allows a rapid accumulation of biomass and bioactive substances and potentiates their beneficial effects.
Innovations of companies, which manufacture probiotic products are focused on the type of probiotic strains which they use, their viability, stability and health effects.
The main problem which lay in front of the producers of probiotic products is the short and insufficient survival of the probiotic microorganisms in storage at room temperature and in time, also during their rehydration and passing through the human gastrointestinal tract.
The companies which produce probiotics try to increase the survival of the probiotic microorganisms by: enveloping them during production with synthetic wrap, putting them in micro-capsules or capsules which are dissolved in the human large intestine or genetically manipulate the strains of the probiotic microorganisms.
These different stages and ways of production are known to the customers as different generations probiotic products. The producers still haven’t succeed completely to solve the problem with the viability of the probiotic microorganisms, which makes the health effects of the probiotic products unsatisfactory.
Due to its know-how, Daflorn succeed to preserve the viability of the probiotic microorganisms, which is proven from numerous clinical trials, showing their beneficial effects on the health of the consumer.