유산균의 건강기능성

Fermented foods have been widely consumed from the earliest period of human history, prior to scientific developments. Ethnic and cultural diversity contributed to production of various types of typical lactic acid-fermented foods such as kimchi, pickled seafood, makgeolli (korean rice wine), fermented milk, cheese, sauerkraut, etc. In the past, lactic acidfermented foods have been consumed due to their unique tastes and aromas. Nowadays, scientific studies have proved that consuming lactic acid-fermented foods could provide a number of health benefits such as enhancement of intestinal track health, immunomodulatory function, prevention and treatment of disease, etc. A number of studies reported that metabolites and cell wall components of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been associated with beneficial health effects. The effects of LAB could be mediated by death cells as well as live cells, although the individual effects have been found to be species and strain specific. Due to growing public concern for welfare, longevity and health, the utilization of LAB for edible vaccine and enhancement of natural immunity and autophagic ability has become the evolving field of LAB research. Recently, many studies have been undertaken to enhance the immunomodulatory function through the screening of LAB and optimization of culture conditions. Based on many scientific studies on LAB, it is necessary to categorize the foods produced by LAB into lactic acid-fermented food and LAB-functional food. Lactic acid-fermented food includes kimchi, yoghurt and cheese, focusing on nutritional value of a product, whereas LAB-functional food is a product formulated with live or death LAB. The beneficial health effects of lactic acid-fermented food are mediated by biologically active components of both ingredients and LAB. On the other hand, the effects of LAB-functional food depend only on the action of LAB.