Selected lactobacilli isolated from Thai foods for production of fermented dairy products with cholesterol lowering potential

One of the benefits of probiotics is reduction of cholesterol by bile salt hydrolase (BSH) enzyme. This study aims to investigate the BSH activity of probiotics derived from fermented foods and to investigate the potential use of selected isolates in fermented dairy products. In this study, 55 isolates of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were evaluated for their potential BSH activity. Three isolates identified as Lactiplantibacillus paraplantarum MN, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum MN2 and Lactobacillus gasseri SM were selected for their strong BSH activity. All three strains exhibited resistance to pH 3.0 and 4.0 with the number of survival cells around 7.8 and 8.1 log CFU/ml, respectively. They also survived in bile concentration of 0.3% and 0.8% and possessed moderate hydrophobicity. The selected strains and the mixed of three strains at ratio 1:1:1 were used in the production of fermented milk products. All strains and the mixture of three could maintain BSH activity in fermented milk products and survived throughout the storage duration of 28 days. With the properties of good probiotics, these strains could be potentially used in functional dairy products with cholesterol reduction property.