Scientist - News - 01-09-2008:

Snacks with probiotics are gaining popularity
Beintema, Nienke

The use of probiotics in consumer products is no longer restricted to yoghurts. An increasing number of snacks with probiotics is now available – at least in the United States.

Granola bars, corn flour crisps, cereals... until a few years ago, these products were hardly interesting for companies in the probiotics business. Probiotics generally do not survive well in dried products, at least not in the longer term. Advanced technologies now make it possible to encapsulate the probiotics units in ultra-thin layers of biodegradable material, often biopolymers. These allow the bacteria to survive for a longer time. Upon entering the digestive system, the probiotics are released and resume their activity.
Attune Foods, located in San Francisco (US), is rapidly gaining market share with its collection of ‘wellness bars’: chocolate and granola bars that contain a blend of probiotics, including Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, and Bifidobacterium lactis. "These probiotic strains were selected for their superior clinical efficacy and stability in our bars", says Jennifer Giambroni, Communications Officer for Attune. "Each Attune bar contains a minimum of 8.5 billion colony-forming units of probiotics through the end of shelf life, ensuring that each strain is delivered at or above the same dosage used in the clinical trials. The probiotics have been proven to survive in the digestive tract, where they can provide the maximum health benefits."

Not available in Europe
The Attune granola and chocolate bars, as Giambroni points out, taste just like regular bars. The chocolate bars come in four flavours: chocolate crisp, mint chocolate, blueberry vanilla, and dark chocolate. The granola bars have a light yoghurt coating and come in six flavours: chewy chocolate, peanut butter & chocolate, lemon crème, wild berry, strawberry, and mango peach.
The Attune bars, which target a general audience, were launched at retail in January 2007 and have significantly grown in popularity ever since. Giambroni: "They are now available at more than 4,000 retailers throughout the US. Unfortunately our products are not available in Europe – they can be ordered online, but are shipped only within the US."
Attune is planning on launching additional products in the near future. Meanwhile, other companies are also successfully experimenting with probiotics-containing dry products such as Digestive Wellness Cereals (Kashi Vive) and Smart Puffs (Robert’s American Gourmet). None of these, however, are currently available in Europe. For the time being, European consumers will have to content themselves with probiotics-containing dairy products and capsules.