Health & Wellbeing

Unsold bread used to make gut-boosting probiotic beverage

Unsold bread used to make gut-boosting probiotic beverage
Although various types of bread were tested, the research focused on white bread due to its wide availability
Although various types of bread were tested, the research focused on white bread due to its wide availability
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The research team, from left to right – Assoc. Prof. Liu Shao Quan, Miss Nguyen Thuy Linh and Dr. Toh Mingzhan
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The research team, from left to right – Assoc. Prof. Liu Shao Quan, Miss Nguyen Thuy Linh and Dr. Toh Mingzhan
Although various types of bread were tested, the research focused on white bread due to its wide availability
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Although various types of bread were tested, the research focused on white bread due to its wide availability

It was just a couple of years ago that we heard how scientists had used soybean waste to produce a healthy (and supposedly tasty) probiotic drink. Now, they've done the same thing with unsold bread that would otherwise be discarded.

The research was led by Assoc. Prof. Liu Shao Quan, Dr. Toh Mingzhan and Miss Nguyen Thuy Linh, all from the National University of Singapore.

They started with commonly-available white sandwich bread, cutting it into small pieces and then blending those with water to create a slurry. That slurry was then pasteurized, after which probiotic bacteria and yeast were added.

After that mixture had been left to ferment in an incubator, what resulted was a creamy, sweet and slightly fizzy drink that could be stored at room temperature for up to six weeks. Even after that amount of time, it still contained at least one billion probiotic cells per serving, which the university states is the current recommendation by the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics for maximum gut health benefits.

The research team, from left to right – Assoc. Prof. Liu Shao Quan, Miss Nguyen Thuy Linh and Dr. Toh Mingzhan
The research team, from left to right – Assoc. Prof. Liu Shao Quan, Miss Nguyen Thuy Linh and Dr. Toh Mingzhan

No bread or other ingredients are wasted in the process, which takes about one day. And once it's made available to consumers, the drink could reportedly occupy a unique commercial niche.

"There is currently a lack of non-dairy probiotic food and beverage options in the market, so our refreshing and healthy new product will help to fill this gap," says Liu. "Our invention also enables bread makers to give their unsold products a new lease of life. We are confident that the bread-based probiotic beverage will have a strong appeal to those who are environmentally conscious."

Source: National University of Singapore

3 comments
3 comments
akarp
"Our invention"...huh? Not even close to being novel. Maybe innovative but even that is a stretch.

'Inventions are new without any precedent while innovations are changes that add value to an existing product or service.'
christopher
But probiotics have already been proven to be *bad* for you, through upsetting your bodies ability to maintain its own healthy microbiome... why are idiots scientists ignoring science? Oh wait "International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics" - it's a commercial lobby group.

This is not science - it is snake-oil marketing.
holdenmidfield
For snake-oils sales, look no further than Murdoch publications or the US White House.