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ABSTRACT: Oats and probiotics have long been recognized for their health benefits. The objectives of this study were (1) to study the ability of Lactobacillus plantarum (B‐28), Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. casei (B‐29) isolated from a traditional Bulgarian cereal‐based fermented beverage, and Lactobacillus acidophilus from Chr. Hansen, Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A., to remove cholesterol from the media and to adhere to the Caco‐2 cell line, (2) to optimize the fermentation conditions to develop a beverage using these probiotics and oats with acceptable sensory and nutritional qualities, and (3) to assess the quality and shelf‐life of this beverage and survivability of probiotics in the beverage. Lactobacillus acidophilus , B‐28, and B‐29 were found to remove 70.67%± 2.35%, 20.26%± 2.63%, and 16.75%± 3.83% of cholesterol from media and the percentage of adhesion was 4.69%± 0.78%, 1.92%± 0.78%, and 8.36%± 0.78%, respectively. The blend of oat flour, sugar, inulin, and whey protein concentrate was cooked in water and fermented for 12 h at 37°C by 2 ± 10 6 colony‐forming units (CFU) /mL each of B‐28 and B‐29 and 2 ± 10 8 CFU/mL of L. acidophilus . The beverage had 0.87%± 0.03% of dietary fiber and had better sensory qualities compared with the commercially available similar product. The probiotics survived for 10 wk of storage at 4°C, except for L. acidophilus , which survived for about 4 wk. The population of B‐28 was 1.77 ± 10 6 to 1.29 ± 10 7 CFU/mL and that of B‐29 was 7.39 ± 10 7 to 4.49 ± 10 8 CFU/mL throughout the storage period. The oat‐based symbiotic beverage is a functional drink providing both probiotics and prebiotics at the same time.
Gokavi et al. (Sun,) studied this question.