Probiotic and Potentially Probiotic Yeasts—Characteristics and Food Application

Abstract

Probiotics are live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host. Besides the well-known and tested lactic acid bacteria, yeasts may also be probiotics. The subject of probiotic and potentially probiotic yeasts has been developing and arising potential for new probiotic products with novel properties, which are not offered by bacteria-based probiotics available on the current market. The paper reviews the first probiotic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii, its characteristics, pro-healthy activities and application in functional food production. This species offers such abilities as improving digestion of certain food ingredients, antimicrobial activities and even therapeutic properties. Besides Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii, on this background, novel yeasts with potentially probiotic features are presented. They have been intensively investigated for the last decade and some species have been observed to possess probiotic characteristics and abilities. There are yeasts from the genera Debaryomyces, Hanseniaspora, Pichia, Meyerozyma, Torulaspora, etc. isolated from food and environmental habitats. These potentially probiotic yeasts can be used for production of various fermented foods, enhancing its nutritional and sensory properties. Because of the intensively developing research on probiotic yeasts in the coming years, we can expect many discoveries and possibly even evolution in the segment of probiotics available on the market.

Probiotic properties of yeasts in traditional fermented foods and beverages

“…Comprehensive reports are available on LAB as probiotic microorganisms in fermented cereal foods, however, the probiotic potentials of yeasts in fermented cereal foods is rarely recognized (Menezes et al, 2020;Staniszewski & Kordowska-Wiater, 2021). P. kudriavzevii strain, isolated from African fermented cereals foods, has been claimed to stimulate human digestion and for adhesion to Caco-2 cells (Greppi et al, 2017) and is considered as probiotic yeast (Ogunremi et al, 2015(Ogunremi et al, , 2020, imparting health benefits (Setta et al, 2020).…”

“…Saccharomyces boulardii is the only commercialized probiotic yeast (Roohvand et al, 2020) and its probiotic properties are supported by scientific evidence based on clinical trials (McFarland, 2017). In comparison to bacterial probiotics, the potentiality of yeasts as probiotics in traditional fermented foods is still insufficiently studied, although few researchers have reviewed the potentialities of probiotic yeasts in food fermentation (Kwofie et al, 2020; Menezes et al, 2020; Sambrani et al, 2021; Staniszewski & Kordowska‐Wiater, 2021). Hence, this study is aimed to review probiotic properties of yeasts in some traditional fermented foods.…”

Bioprospecting Kluyveromyces marxianus as a Robust Host for Industrial Biotechnology

“…Yeasts are a heterogeneous group of eukaryotic fungi that have diverse applications in biotechnological, food, environmental, and pharmaceutical fields since the ancient times ( Bilal et al, 2020 ; Mamaev and Zvyagilskaya, 2021 ). Yeasts are endowed with a set of unique advantageous attributes, such as high production, growth on a variety of feedstocks, ability to compartmentalize reactions in organelles, potential to execute many posttranslational modifications, easy cultivation in small vessels or large-scale bioreactors, facile product separation, and resistance to infectious agents (i.e., bacteriophages) ( Cheng et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2020 ; Staniszewski and Kordowska-Wiater, 2021 ). All these traits render yeasts, particularly attractive candidates for broad-spectrum applications in various industries ( Wagner and Alper, 2016 ).…”

Effect of Nanoencapsulated Alginate-Synbiotic on Gut Microflora Balance, Immunity, and Growth Performance of Growing Rabbits

“…In terms of probiotics, yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) and Gram-positive bacteria ( Bacillus , Enterococcus , Lactobacillus , Bifidobacterium , Pediococcus , and Streptococcus ) are the common probiotics used in the preparation of direct microbial feed additives [ 14 ]. Nevertheless, besides finding effective probiotic and prebiotic combinations, achieving adequate efficiency of synbiotic products depends on maintaining probiotic survival ability and prebiotic stability against processing, storage, and gastrointestinal conditions.…”