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Review
. 2022 Jul 18;14(14):2938.
doi: 10.3390/nu14142938.

Exopolysaccharides of Lactic Acid Bacteria: Production, Purification and Health Benefits towards Functional Food

Helena Mylise Sørensen  1   2 , Keith D Rochfort  3 , Susan Maye  4 , George MacLeod  4 , Dermot Brabazon  2 , Christine Loscher  1 , Brian Freeland  1
Affiliations
Review

Exopolysaccharides of Lactic Acid Bacteria: Production, Purification and Health Benefits towards Functional Food

Helena Mylise Sørensen et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are capable of synthesising metabolites known as exopolysaccharides (EPS) during fermentation. Traditionally, EPS plays an important role in fermented dairy products through their gelling and thickening properties, but they can also be beneficial to human health. This bioactivity has gained attention in applications for functional foods, which leads them to have prebiotic, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, anti-tumour, cholesterol-lowering and anti-obesity activity. Understanding the parameters and conditions is crucial to optimising the EPS yields from LAB for applications in the food industry. This review provides an overview of the functional food market together with the biosynthesis of EPS. Factors influencing the production of EPS as well as methods for isolation, characterisation and quantification are reviewed. Finally, the health benefits associated with EPS are discussed.

Keywords: exopolysaccharides; functional food; health benefits; lactic acid bacteria; postbiotics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Market size of functional food worldwide (Euromonitor International, a market research provider (2022), (in USD million). This figure was made by the authors with raw data obtained from Euromonitor. Approval for use of data has been obtained from Euromonitor.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Retail sale value of functional foods in Europe in 2021 (Euromonitor International, a market research provider (2022), (in USD million).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Worldwide production quantity of milk products (excl. butter) in 2018. This figure was made by the authors with raw data from FAO.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Chemical structure of (a) α-glucans and (b) β-fructans.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Classification of exopolysaccharides produced by Lactobacillus sp.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Biosynthesis of homopolysaccharides.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Biosynthesis of heterosaccharides.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Diagram of isolation and recovery of EPS from the end of fermentation to either characterisation or quantification.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Dextran from Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Megazyme (Ireland).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Overview of quantification methods.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Health benefits associated with exopolysaccharides.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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