Probiotic bacteria are added to food such as yoghurt drinks to aid the digestive system. © Shutterstock
Most probiotic bacteria that are added to foods, such as yoghurt, to aid the digestive system are not reaching their intended target in the intestine. Instead, the majority are being destroyed in the stomach before they can do any good. Now, UK scientists have come up with a coating to overcome this problem.
Probiotics are bacteria that naturally live in the small and large intestine. They provide health benefits by producing nutrients, compete with pathogenic bacteria for binding sites and stimulate the immune system.
Read the full article in Chemistry World
Layer-by-layer coating of alginate matrices with chitosan–alginate for the improved survival and targeted delivery of probiotic bacteria after oral administration
Michael T. Cook, George Tzortzis, Vitaliy V. Khutoryanskiy and Dimitris Charalampopoulos
J. Mater. Chem. B, 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2TB00126H
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