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IV.Resultados y discusión. Capítulo II 119
2009). Although there is no legal definition of the term “probiotic”, different
probiotic’s dosage recommendations can be found. According to different
authors, the minimum number of viable probiotic bacteria should be 10 7 -10 9
colony forming units (cfu)/g or mL of a product at the time of consumption
and, as to exert healthy effects, it should be consumed daily (Gomes and
Malcata, 1999; Stanton et al., 2003; Van Niel et al., 2002). These
recommendations are in compliance with the minimum requirements for
standard milk fermented products by the International Dairy Federation and
the Japan and EU Associations of Fermented Milks, which is 10 7 cfu/g or
mL of starter (Sanz and Dalmau, 2008).
Due to their health properties, there has been a notable increase in the
consumption of food products containing probiotic microorganisms. As
Granato et al. (2010) reported, the consumption of probiotic products
increased by around 13% and 18% between 2002 and 2007 in Eastern and
Western Europe, respectively. Those products have been traditionally
produced by using animal milk, yoghurt being the best known. Nonetheless,
new food matrices have been investigated, such as meat, baby food, icecreams,
juices and cereals (Granato et al., 2010) to produce probiotic
products. In this sense, several beverages obtained from soy, rice, wheat and
maize would have huge market potential due to the current consumer
demand for cow-milk substitute products (Mårtensson et al., 2000). Those
consumers are principally vegetarians, people allergic to animal proteins or
lactose intolerant. In this sense, oat milks can be alternative matrices with
which to elaborate probiotic products, adding the nutritional and functional
characteristics of this cereal, such as the high content in soluble and non-