The prevalence of suicidal ideation and its relations with perceived parenting treatment and family climate was examined in 120 Hong Kong students aged 15–19 years. Fifty‐two per cent of the participants reported suicide ideation. Suicide ideation was found to be significantly associated with perceived authoritarian parenting, low parental warmth, high maternal over‐control, negative child‐rearing practices, and a negative family climate. A positive family climate may act as a buffer against developing suicide ideation in adolescents.

The study aimed to encapsulate Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) with the selected prebiotic, using co-extrusion technology with a poly-L-lysine (PLL) coating and evaluate probiotic survival in simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Selection of ideal prebiotic was conducted using inulin, fructo-oligosaccharide (FDS) and isomalto-oligosaccharide (OMD) and its optimal concentration to be incorporated in microencapsulation was determined. Microcapsules without coating (S 1 : no prebiotic and S 3 : with prebiotic) and with coating (S 2 : no prebiotic and S 4 : with prebiotic) produced were evaluated based on its physical properties and survival in simulated gastrointestinal environment. The OMD with a concentration of 3.0% (w/v) was selected due to its best effect in promoting growth of LGG after 24 h (8.63±0.07 log CFU/mL). The morphology analysis revealed that all microcapsules produced were spherical with a diameter ranging from 491.3 to 541.7 µm and microencapsulation efficiency ranged from 84.16 ±5.30% to 90.56±3.33%. The incorporation of OMD and coating with PLL improved the survival of LGG by 3% up to 52% after 2 h of incubation in simulated gastric digestion. Among all formulations, PLL coated microcapsules added with OMD was the most effective in protecting LGG during the first hour of simulated gastric digestion (6.52 log CFU/mL) with cell viability greater than the minimum recommended level of 10 6 CFU/mL.

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Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 (BB-12) was microencapsulated using co-extrusion technology with chitosan coating and the incorporation of mannitol as prebiotic. Optimization of coating material chitosan concentration (0–0.5% w/v) and mannitol concentration (0–5% w/v) as prebiotic were performed to determine the formulation that produces beads with desired properties. The microencapsulation efficiency (MEE) of free and microencapsulated BB-12 (with and without mannitol) were determined. All forms of BB-12 further subjected to sequential digestion in simulated gastric juice (SGJ, pH 2.0) for 2 hours and simulated intestinal juice (SIJ, pH 7.5) for 3 hours. The results indicated that 0.4% (w/v) of chitosan coating and 3% (w/v) of mannitol were the optimum concentrations to produce microencapsulated BB-12 with the highest MEE of 89.15% and the average bead size of 805 µm. The BB-12 beads produced through co-extrusion were spherical with a smooth surface. Throughout the five hours sequential gastrointestinal digestion, both microencapsulated BB-12 with and without mannitol were able to maintain their viable cell count at least 106 CFU/g at the end of the incubation. The presence of prebiotic mannitol showed a significant protective effect on the microencapsulated BB-12 during gastrointestinal transit.

Viability of probiotics could be affected by the production process, storage in the food matrix, and the digestion processes in the human body. This study aimed to determine the storage stability of microencapsulated Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG with flaxseed mucilage in hawthorn berry tea. The different formulation was used to microencapsulate L. rhamnosus GG with or without the addition of flaxseed mucilage in the wall and core material. The L. rhamnosus GG microencapsulated with alginatepectin-flaxseed mucilage and flaxseed mucilage in hawthorn berry tea under simulated gastrointestinal digestion showed the highest viability (7.5 log 10 cfu/ml) at 4°C after 4 weeks of storage. The encapsulated L. rhamnosus GG with or without flaxseed mucilage had higher total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity in comparison to free L. rhamnosus GG cells at both temperatures after 4 weeks of storage. The results indicated that flaxseed mucilage had successfully protected L. rhamnosus GG from the harsh environment. Practical applications The microencapsulated L. rhamnosus GG in the hawthorn berry tea has met the minimum requirement of 10 6-10 7 cfu/ml probiotic cells to exert therapeutic health effects. Besides, the optimized L. rhamnosus GG microbeads with flaxseed mucilage could enhance the functional properties of hawthorn berry tea. Therefore, the L.

The characterization of the prebiotic potential of legumes and mucilage are essential and crucial for the development of symbiotic food products. The aim of the present study was to compare and to determine the prebiotic capacity of selected legumes, namely adzuki bean, mung bean, black cowpea, and mucilages from chia seed and flaxseed on the growth of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. Resistance towards acid, pancreatin hydrolysis, and the prebiotic scores of the tested substances was determined based on growth promotion after 24 h of incubation. Results revealed that flaxseed mucilage was more resistant against hydrolysis by acid (1.47%) and pancreatin (2.64%) compared to the other samples (5.64 – 18.06% for acid and 10.34 – 15.57% for pancreatin). The relative prebiotic scores for flaxseed mucilage and black cowpea were 98% and 94%, respectively, which were higher than commercial prebiotics including inulin, fructooligosaccharides, and isomaltooligosaccharides. The optimum concentrations of flaxseed mucilage and black cowpea during 36 h of fermentation were 0.8% and 0.4% (w/v), respectively. The findings indicated that flaxseed mucilage was partially digested during gastrointestinal transit and it promotes the growth of the L. rhamnosus GG. The potential prebiotic capacity of flaxseed mucilage and its symbiotic relationship with L. rhamnosus GG suggests that they can be incorporated together for the development of functional foods.

Aims: Microencapsulation has been used to protect the viability of probiotics in harsh environments such as gastrointestinal conditions and food composition. The present study aimed to optimize the microencapsulation of Lactobacillus plantarum 299v (Lp299v) using co-extrusion by varying two parameters (calcium chloride (CaCl2) and oligofructose (FOS) concentrations) and storage stability of the beads produced in ambarella juice at refrigerated and room temperature. Methodology and results: Chitosan coated-alginate microcapsule prepared with 4.0% (w/v) FOS and 2.5% (w/v) CaCl2 showed highest microencapsulation efficiency (93%). The microcapsules were subjected to gastrointestinal treatment and storage test in ambarella juice. Both encapsulated Lp299v with and without FOS showed higher viabilities compared with free cells after incubated in simulated gastric juice (SGJ) and simulated intestinal juice (SIJ). After 5 h of incubation in SIJ, the viabilities of both encapsulated probiotic with and without FOS were more than 10 7 CFU/mL. The Lp299v were stored in ambarella juice under refrigerated (4 °C) and room temperature (25 °C) for 4 weeks. At 25 °C, all forms of Lp299v lost their viabilities after one week. On the other hand, at 4 °C, viable cells count of both encapsulated Lp299v with and without FOS were reported to be more than 10 7 CFU/mL after 4 weeks of storage. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: Microencapsulation with FOS was able to improve Lp299v's viability during storage in low pH fruit juices compared to those without FOS. The microencapsulated probiotics could be applied in ambarella juice for the development of functional food.

Probiotic is a functional food ingredient that is commonly used in the manufacturing of fermented dairy products and vegetable‐based foods. The consumption of probiotics has been claimed to confer health benefits to the host. However, probiotic cells are sensitive to harsh environments such as extreme pH and enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract. Hence, the microencapsulation technique is often adopted to shield probiotics from the outer environment. This review introduces a more advanced extrusion technique called co‐extrusion, which has been used to microencapsulate probiotics over the last few years. Both co‐extrusion technique and extrusion technique in microencapsulating probiotics were discussed extensively in this article. Furthermore, the impact of encapsulating probiotics in contrast with unencapsulated cells was also presented. This review highlighted some of the factors that might cause low viable cell count during microencapsulation and large microbead size. Lastly, the survivability of encapsulated probiotics in gastrointestinal digestion and storage under different temperatures were evaluated and the importance of probiotic microencapsulation was also emphasized. Practical Applications The detailed information on extrusion and co‐extrusion techniques for probiotics microencapsulation is presented in this review. This information is useful for researchers and industrialists in understanding and applying both encapsulation techniques on probiotics for different purposes. Through this paper, the readers would also gain more insight into the factors affecting the viability and microbead size of the encapsulated probiotic to further optimize the extrusion and co‐extrusion encapsulation process. Furthermore, the ideal storage temperature and additional drying process for the encapsulated probiotic identified in this review would open opportunities for industrialists to produce functional probiotic products with a high viable cell count.