Srirengaraj Vijayaram, Yun-Zhang Sun, Einar Ringo, Hary Razafindralambo, Karthikeyan Mahendran, Ramanathan Murugappan6 and Karuppiah Duraikannu
Probiotic organisms are commonly present in water, soil, food, human and animal intestine. Probiotics are live microorganisms or friendly microbes, and they provide numerous health-beneficial effects to the host such as inhibition of adherence and colonization of pathogens, enhanced immune system, reduction of toxins, reduction of inflammatory bowel diseases, reduce cholesterol levels, prevention of cancer, synthesis of vitamins, and production of antimicrobial compounds. Consumer awareness is the main reason for the development of probiotic functional food products. In this regard, probiotics incorporated in food products significantly enhanced the quality, taste, and flavour compared to nonprobiotic functional foods. Furthermore, probiotic food products protect against unfavourable conditions and increased shelf-life periods. The present review aims to focus on dairy and non-dairy products improving the quality of the functional product as well as probiotic functional foods supportive to improve consumers› health and prevention of diseases.