Kefir: uma nova fonte alimentar funcional?

Abstract

Functional foods are the new trend in the food industry as a result of scientific evidence of the relationship between food and health, and especially of consumers’ interest for new alternatives to prevent chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, certain types of cancer, allergies, intestinal problems among others. Aiming this market, the dairy industry has been developing new products in which the functionality is the main attribute. Until recently, the use of dairy products has been based on yoghurt and cheese, however, the future points to the use of probiotic products. These food supplements are designed based on live microorganisms that affect hosts’ health positively. But, by analyzing their market prices, these products are usually consumed by individuals with high purchasing power, the researchers' efforts should focus also on developing products for the less privileged classes of the population, promoting an functional inclusion of probiotic products. In contrast, kefir has a very low cost of production, and probiotics’ characteristics. In this context, this paper aims to demonstrate the