Probiotics are living microorganisms that provide health benefits to the host when consumed in certain amounts. Autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis are immune diseases that cause tissue and organ damage due to immune dysfunction in the body. Patients with autoimmune diseases often suffer from intestinal flora disorders. Probiotic intervention can restore intestinal microecological balance, avoiding the toxic side effects of medications, so it provides a new strategy for the prevention and treatment of autoimmune diseases. This article reviews the recent progress in research on autoimmune diseases and presents the current status and future prospects of the application of probiotic intervention strategies in autoimmune diseases.

Milk and dairy products are foods with high nutritional values. Sterilization techniques that can ensure the safety, long shelf life and stable nutritional value of milk and dairy products are of great interest to researchers. In this paper, we review recent progress in research on sterilization techniques in the dairy industry, illustrates the mechanism of thermal and non-thermal sterilization techniques, and discuss the effect of different sterilization techniques such as pasteurization, ultra-high temperature instantaneous sterilization, ultra-high pressure, ultrasonic and pulsed electric field on the microbial load, nutritional bioactives, flavor compounds, texture and chemical reactions of milk and dairy products. We hope that this review can provide useful information for the development and application highly bioactive dairy products.

In this work, the effects of different fat contents and fat substitutes on the quality of processed cheese slices were studied. The physicochemical indexes, color, texture and sensory quality of five cheese samples with different fat contents were evaluated. The results showed that there were significant differences in pH value and the contents of protein and fat among cheeses. Addition of enzymatically hydrolyzed butter concentrate had a significant impact on the color parameters lightness (L*) , redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) of cheese. Texture profile analysis (TPA) parameters of 50% reduced-fat cheese with 100% substitution of butter by enzymatically hydrolyzed butter concentrate were different from those of the other cheeses. Compared with full-fat cheese, 25% reduced-fat cheese and 50% reduced-fat cheese with 50% reduction of butter, 50% reduced-fat cheese with 25% reduction of butter and addition of 5% enzymatically hydrolyzed butter concentrate did not significantly differ in any of the texture parameters except cohesiveness and resilience. Sensory evaluations showed that 50% reduced-fat cheese with 100% substitution of butter by 20% enzymatically hydrolyzed butter concentrate scored lowest. Compared with the reduced-fat cheese, 50% reduced-fat cheese with partial substitution of enzymatically hydrolyzed butter concentrate for butter showed improved flavor and taste and the overall sensory score was not significantly different from that of full-fat cheese. Accordingly, the quality of reduced-fat cheese slices can be improved by reducing butter content and adding enzymatically hydrolyzed butter concentrate.

Hydrolysis of proteins in lactic acid bacteria fermented milk produces abundant peptides. Bioactive peptides derived from fermented milk proteins not only have rich nutritional value, but also show many biological functions such as antioxidant, blood pressure lowering, and antibacterial effects. This paper reviews various biological peptides derived from fermented milk proteins with antioxidant, antihypertensive and antimicrobial activities with respect to their mechanisms of action, sequences and structure-activity relationships. Besides, it summarizes the techniques used to identify the sequences and predict the functions of biological peptides. This review will provide a reference for the development and application in functional foods.

In this paper, the basic physicochemical indexes, color and texture properties of 10 kinds of commercial sliced processed cheese were tested, and the differences in texture properties and the underlying mechanism were analyzed. The results showed that there were significant differences in pH value, color and texture of sliced processed cheeses made from different sources. The pH values of all samples were in the range between 5.94 and 6.15. The color difference was determined by pigments, and L*, a* and b* values varied among all samples. The texture parameters of hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness and chewiness rather than springiness were significantly different across the samples. Different kinds of natural cheese, pigment and emulsifying salt and the difference in water content could result in changes in the texture and color of processed cheese.

Psychrotrophic bacteria grow and reproduce rapidly in raw milk under cold conditions while producing some proteases and lipases which may affect the quality of both raw and processed milk. On the basis of the data on raw milk under different regional, seasonal and management conditions collected in China and abroad, this article presents a comparative analysis of the composition and quantity of psychrotrophic bacteria and of the prospects for the application of various technologies for rapid detection of psychrotrophic bacteria in raw milk with focus on the detection time, the limit of detection and the correlation coefficient of the calibration curve as well as the advantages and disadvantages. Next, it summarizes the current status of the control of psychrotrophic bacteria in practice. We believe that the quality and safety control of dairy products will be guaranteed by the combined use of rapid detection technologies and microbial traceability technologies.

Obesity has become one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide that seriously threatens human health. Obesity is closely related to variations in the gut microbiota. Probiotics have potential for obesity treatment as they play an important role in regulating the balance of intestinal flora and improving the immunity of the body. This paper reviews the current status of research on the mechanisms of action of probiotics in animal models of obesity induced by different factors so as to provide useful information for clinical trials and applications of probiotics.

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) have complex structures and selectively stimulate the growth of probiotic bifidobacteria in the intestine of breast-fed infants. Infant gut-associated bifidobacteria provide molecular tools to metabolize HMO with strain specificity, such as glycosyl hydrolases. This review summarizes the structure of HMO and the mechanism underlying HMO metabolism by infant gut-associated bifidobacteria. The focus of this review is on the current advances in the intraspecific differences in bifidobacterial HMO metabolism and the tools involved in the metabolic process.

Lactobacillus plantarum is a ubiquitous microorganism, and as a member of the probiotic family it owns various probiotic functions including regulating the balance of the intestinal flora, maintaining normal immune response and lowering cholesterol levels, and has a broad application in the food industry. This article aims to review the mechanism underlying the health benefits of typical strains of Lactobacillus plantarum and to assess the factors limiting the application of Lactobacillus plantarum in the dairy industry.The commonly used solutions are presented.Hopefully,this review will provide a useful basis for practical application of Lactobacillus plantarum.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal disorder that causes abdominal pain, diarrhea and constipation, reducing the quality of life in patients. Probiotics have been shown to regulate the intestinal flora balance, enhance intestinal barrier function and modulate the immune response, thereby providing new approaches to treat IBS. This article aims to review the literature concerning the treatment of IBS with probiotics with respect to the subtypes of IBS, changes in the intestinal flora of IBS patients, the therapeutical effect of probiotics on IBS and the underlying mechanism for the purpose of providing useful information for applying probiotics to treat IBS and broadening their scope of application.

Exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by lactic acid bacteria (LAB), with a variety of physiological functions, play a significant role in the improvement of physical properties of fermented dairy products. The structures and functions of EPS synthesized by different LAB strains are highly diverse. Therefore, this review summarizes the progress that has been made in recent years in studying the structure of EPS from LAB and its effect on physical properties and health-beneficial functions of fermented dairy products, in order to lay a theoretical foundation for developing new fermented dairy products with stable quality and desired health-beneficial functions.

The growth promoting effect of the supernatant of fermented skim milk with Paenibacillus spp. BD3526 on Lactobacillus plantarum ST-Ⅲ inoculated into skim milk was analyzed in this study. The results showed that the supernatant of BD3526 cultured in skim milk for 5–9 d significantly promoted the growth of ST-Ⅲ in skim milk and exhibited high milkclotting activity. After ST-Ⅲ was cultured in skim milk added with the supernatant of BD3526 for 24 h, the pH value decreased from 6.44 to 4.70–5.08, and milk clotting was observed at 16 h along with a viable cell count of 9.22–9.35(lg(CFU/mL)).

In order to find the difference between the cleavage sites in bovine milk proteins by metalloproteinase from Paenibacillus spp. BD3526 and chymosin, the peptides generated from αs1-, αs2- and κ-casein and β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg) digested by the enzymes were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadruple-timeof- flight mass spectrometer (HPLC-Q-TOF-MS-MS). The results indicated that the cleavage sites in bovine milk proteins by metalloproteinase and chymosin shared high similarity and both of these enzymes specifically cleaved the Lys-Thr, Lys-Phe, Arg- Phe and Arg-Tyr peptide bonds to generate peptides with ACE inhibitory, antimicrobial and immunomodulating activities.

Caseins were separated from the fresh milk of grazing yak cows in Tianzhu county, Gansu province by microfiltration to investigate changes in their heat stability, hydrophobicity, particle sizes and molecular weights after different pH treatments (pH 6.4, 6.6, 6.8 and 7.0) and heat treatments (80, 100, 120 and 140 ℃). The results showed that functional properties of yak milk caseins at pH 6.8 revealed the most significant deterioration after each heat treatment. At a temperature far below the denaturing temperature the caseins exhibited good retention of functional properties. Both acid and heat treatments caused molecular polarization of the caseins, destroyed the hydrophobic force, which contributes to maintaining the spatial structure of the protein molecules, and accordingly induced their dissociation or aggregation, causing changes in their molecular structure and in turn affecting their functional properties.