UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE VALÈNCIA Desarrollo ... - RiuNet

IV. Resultados y discusión. Capítulo III 251
cancers, prevention of osteoporosis and food allergies (Lourens-Hattingh
and Viljoen, 2001).
Although dairy industry is the major sector in developing probiotics
products, others such as nut and cereal beverages (known as vegetable
“milks”) industries have been currently involved. These vegetable milks
have especial relevance since, besides their nutritional and health benefits,
they may contain prebiotic compounds which make them interesting and
useful to produce synbiotic products (combination of probiotics and
prebiotics) and, thus, benefit consumers from these cutting-edge functional
elements. Prebiotics were defined by Food Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO) as “non-viable food components that confer health
benefits on the host associated with modulation of the microbiota” (FAO,
2008).
Vegetable milks have a long history in both Eastern and Western
cultures and, although so far they had not been well established in the
current European market, many are the purchasers who choose them.
Typically vegetarians, individuals with lactose intolerance, or cholesterolconcerned
individuals are the targeted consumers for these milks. Moreover,
experts on food nutrition and health are starting to consider possible relation
between vegetable products and cancer, atherosclerosis or inflammatory
diseases prevention, since free radicals play a key role in those pathologies
and these foodstuffs are an excellent source of antioxidants (Scalbert and
Williamson, 2000).
There is a wide range of commercial vegetable milks and currently nut
milks are in the state-of-the-art due to the new-knowledge impact of their