Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit to the host. The two main genera of microorganisms indicated as sources of probiotic bacteria are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Historically used to produce fermented dairy products, certain strains of both genera are increasingly utilised to formulate other functional foods. As the consumers' understanding of the role of probiotics in health grows, so does the popularity of food containing them. The result of this phenomenon is an increase in the number of probiotic foods available for public consumption, including a rapidly-emerging variety of probiotic-containing non-dairy beverages, which provide a convenient way to improve and maintain health. However, the composition of non-dairy probiotic beverages can pose specific challenges to the survival of the health conferring microorganisms. To overcome these challenges, strain selection and protection techniques play an integral part in formulating a stable product. This review discusses non-dairy probiotic beverages, characteristics of an optimal beverage, and commonly used probiotic strains, including spore-forming bacteria. It also examines the most recent developments in probiotic encapsulation technology with focus on nano-fibre formation as a means of protecting viable cells. Utilising bacteria's natural armour or creating barrier mechanisms via encapsulation technology will fuel development of stable non-dairy probiotic beverages.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 8. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 19 March 2015.
All research outputs
#4,007,817
of 22,745,803 outputs
Outputs from Beneficial Microbes
#184
of 572 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#34,555
of 194,240 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Beneficial Microbes
#1
of 4 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,745,803 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 82nd percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 572 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.5. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 67% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 194,240 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 4 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than all of them
