RESUMO
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Probiotic yeasts are used in production of functional foods and pharmaceutical products. They play an important role in promoting and maintaining human health. Until now, little work has been published on improving the survival of Saccharomyces in stimulated gastrointestinal condition. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study the exposure of the yeast in the capsulate and free forms to artificial gastrointestinal conditions was assessed and the number of viable Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells during 0 to 120 mines in these conditions was evaluated by a pour plate method using sabouraud dextrose agar. RESULTS: Results showed the shape of the beads was generally spherical, sometimes elliptical with a mean diameter of about 50-90 µm. Also count of viable probiotic cells obtained for all the microcapsules were above the recommended levels for a probiotic food. Also decrease of approximately 4 logs was noted in the number of free cells after 2 h of incubation at pH 2 and 8, when compared to decreases of about 2 logs in the all microencapsulated S. cerevisiae under similar conditions. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that microencapsulation process was significantly able to increase the survival rate of Saccharomyces in a simulated gastrointestinal condition (p<0.05)..