The increasing knowledge about the human microbiome leads to the awareness of how important probiotics can be for our health. Although further substantiation is required, it appears that several pathologies could be treated or prevented by the administration of pharmaceutical formulations containing such live health-beneficial bacteria. These pharmabiotics need to provide their effects until the end of shelf life, which can be optimally achieved by drying them before further formulation. However, drying processes, including spray-, freeze-, vacuum- and fluidized bed drying, induce stress on probiotics, thus decreasing their viability. Several protection strategies can be envisaged to enhance their viability, including addition of protective agents, controlling the process parameters and prestressing the probiotics prior to drying. Moreover, probiotic viability needs to be maintained during long-term storage. Overall, lower storage temperature and low moisture content result in good survival rates. Attention should also be given to the rehydration conditions of the dried probiotics, as this can exert an important effect on their revival. By describing not only the characteristics, but also the viability results obtained by the most relevant drying techniques in the probiotic industry, we hope to facilitate the deliberate choice of drying process and protection strategy for specific probiotic and pharmabiotic applications.

Biofortification of staple crops could help to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies in humans. We show that folates in stored rice grains are unstable, which reduces the potential benefits of folate biofortification. We obtain folate concentrations that are up to 150 fold higher than those of wild-type rice by complexing folate to folate-binding proteins to improve folate stability, thereby enabling long-term storage of biofortified high-folate rice grains.

Highlights d Lactic acid bacteria are enriched in the healthy human nose and nasopharynx d Lactobacillus casei AMBR2 is functionally adapted to the upper respiratory tract d L. casei AMBR2 has antimicrobial and immunomodulatory properties d Live L. casei AMBR2 is safe for intranasal application in healthy humans

SummaryA number of clinical studies have shown protective effects of lactobacilli against Candida species in the gastrointestinal tract, the urogenital tract and the oral cavity, while others did not show clear effects. Evidence on the mode of action of lactobacilli against Candida is also still lacking. In this study, the anti‐Candida activity of the model probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG was explored in different assays to determine molecular interactions. We found that L. rhamnosus GG was able to interfere with Candida growth, morphogenesis and adhesion. These three aspects of Candida's physiology are all crucial to its opportunistic pathogenesis. In follow‐up assays, we compared the activity of L. rhamnosus GG wild‐type with its exopolysaccharide (EPS)‐deficient mutant and purified EPS to evaluate the involvement of this outer carbohydrate layer. Our data demonstrate that purified EPS can both interfere with hyphal formation and adhesion to epithelial cells, which indicates that EPS is part of a combined molecular mechanism underlying the antihyphal and anti‐adhesion mechanisms of L. rhamnosus GG.

Highlights d Lactic acid bacteria are enriched in the healthy human nose and nasopharynx d Lactobacillus casei AMBR2 is functionally adapted to the upper respiratory tract d L. casei AMBR2 has antimicrobial and immunomodulatory properties d Live L. casei AMBR2 is safe for intranasal application in healthy humans