Probiotic Viability via Prebiotic Rehydration and Osmotic Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies fail to maintain live and active probiotic strains in symbiotic synergy with prebiotics, leading to reduced effectiveness in food and healthcare products due to issues like lyophilization, dairy medium limitations, and osmotic pressure, which hinder colonization and metabolic function in the digestive tract.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the preparation of a sanitized environment, specific conditioning of lyophilized probiotic strains, and a prebiotic mixture with inulin, vitamins, and carbohydrates, followed by controlled hydration and pH adjustment to create a synergistic symbiotic mixture that maintains probiotics' viability and reproduction, suitable for integration into various food and healthcare products.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lyophilized probiotic strains are used, then probiotics can be preserved in dormant state, but they lose metabolic function and cannot colonize effectively in the digestive tract
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-conditioning lyophilized probiotic strains with a specific rehydration solution containing prebiotics, vitamins, and minerals before they are incorporated into food products. This preliminary treatment activates the probiotics and establishes their metabolic functions in advance, so that when they reach the digestive tract, they are already active and ready to colonize effectively, thus resolving the contradiction between preservation and colonization effectiveness.
2Ease of manufacture
If dairy medium is used for probiotic cultivation, then probiotics can grow in familiar environment, but osmotic pressure causes plasmolysis or turgor leading to cell death
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by carefully adjusting the osmotic pressure, pH, and ionic composition of the cultivation medium to match the optimal conditions for probiotic cell survival. The medium is formulated with specific concentrations of salts, sugars, and buffering agents to create an isotonic environment that prevents plasmolysis and turgor, while still supporting probiotic growth and metabolism, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and cell survival.
3Productivity
If probiotics are inoculated in food products, then they can be delivered to consumers, but they fail to remain live and active due to unsuitable biophysical conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the intermediary principle by introducing a specially formulated protective matrix containing prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, and buffering agents that acts as a mediator between the probiotics and the food product environment. This matrix maintains suitable biophysical conditions (pH, osmotic pressure, temperature stability) around the probiotics throughout the food product, protecting them from harsh conditions and ensuring they remain live and active, thus resolving the contradiction between delivery and activity maintenance.
4Speed
If probiotics take 4 hours to reach the small intestine, then they travel through the digestive tract, but they are not fully activated and anchored in the mucosa by the time they arrive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-activating the probiotics through controlled rehydration and incubation in a nutrient-rich medium containing prebiotics and growth factors before incorporation into the food product. This preliminary activation phase allows the probiotics to develop their metabolic functions and adhesion capabilities in advance, so that when they reach the small intestine after 4 hours of transit, they are already fully activated and can immediately anchor to the mucosa, thus resolving the contradiction between transit speed and activation reliability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method ensures live and active probiotics in symbiotic synergy, enhancing nutrient absorption, reproduction, and functional food effects, while maintaining probiotic viability across different food formats and storage conditions, achieving a truly functional food that modulates physiological functions.
Implementation Method 1
the membrane of probiotics is permeable and an isotonicity must be observed in the solution containing them
Implementation Method 2
achieve reproduction of said probiotic strains under biophysical and biochemical conditions of temperature, osmotic pressure and pH
Implementation Method 3
dairy media with low viscosities present the problem of osmotic pressure on the bacteria, which causes them to die as a result plasmolysis or turgor
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a mixture of probiotics, prebiotics and nutrient having synergistic symbiotic action and the process of productions thereof. Said mixture comprises at least one probiotic strain selected from lactobacillus, bifidus, streptococcus and/or yeasts; at least one prebiotic basically being inulin is added: a simple carbohydrate being glucose and/or a monosaccharide being sugar, and amines being vitamin E, pyridoxine chlorohydrate, folic acid, vitamin B12 and ascorbic acid, and added nutrients for human consumption being: proteins of animal or vegetable origin with or without the presence of the nine essemtial amino acids, lipids referentially short-chain, omega and carbohydrates also short-chain for energy release in simple metabolisations. This novel mixture on incorporation into a primary or processed foods becomes a functional food (food accomplishing modulation of an organic function in the human body)