Scientist - News - 26-01-2009:

Ice cream as a carrier for probiotics
Beintema, Nienke

Researchers worldwide are experimenting with different carriers for delivering live probiotic bacteria to consumers’ intestines. Products range from yoghurts to freeze-dried capsules and even granola bars and chocolate. Unilever is now producing two probiotic ice cream products.

Ice cream unhealthy? No, says dr. Danielle Wolvers, immunologist at Unilever’s Food and Health Research Institute. "There is a whole range of ice cream products that can be consumed on a daily basis," she states. She responds to the question whether daily consumption of ice cream, even if it is a probiotic ice cream, is such a good idea. "The probiotic ice creams that we produce, for instance, are low-fat and low in sugar. They contain only 100 kilocalories per serving."
Unilever is joining the list of companies around the world that are developing probiotic consumer products. It is currently producing two probiotic ice creams: a frozen yoghurt with granola and fruit, and an ice cream lollypop. "The first is now on the market in Italy, France and Ireland," says Wolvers, "while the second was introduced in England in 2008."
These products, as she explains, contain live Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12. "Previous research has shown that this strain has a beneficial effect on the balance of the intestinal microflora," she says, "and positive effects have also been reported on fecal transit. That is what made this strain a promising candidate for health foods. Our research at Unilever aimed to find out whether ice cream is a suitable carrier for probiotics."

Every other day
In Wolvers’ study, healthy volunteers were divided into three groups of 30 people. During four weeks, they consumed either a control ice cream product every day, ice cream with B. lactis HN019 every day, or ice cream with B. lactis Bb-12 every other day, alternating with control ice cream. "We studied two different Bifidobacterium strains," says Wolvers, "to see if they differed in survival. And we were interested in an every-other-day consumption pattern, because this might be more in line with customers’ preference."
The results showed no significant differences in immunological parameters, but the consumption of ice cream with B. lactis Bb-12 every other day did result in the presence of B. lactis in the feces of study subjects compared to controls. For every-day consumption of ice cream with B. lactis HN019, this was not the case.
The researchers also studied the product stability of the two strains. The stability of B. lactis Bb-12 was similar under laboratory and home storage conditions, but loss of probiotic viability was two- to three-fold higher for B. lactis HN019 under home storage conditions.
"We’ll have to do further research to establish whether other options, such as higher doses or a combination of different strains, may actually result in improved immunological parameters." says Wolvers. "Before that, we will not be making any official claims on immune function in relation to these products. But in any case we were able to show that ice cream can be a suitable carrier for some probiotics, even in an every-other day consumption pattern."

More information:
Abstract Darmendag 2008