This article is - freely available Beneficial Effects of
Probiotic and Food Borne Yeasts on Human Health Department of
Food Science, Food Microbiology, Faculty of Life Sciences,
University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 30, DK-1958 Frederiksberg
C, Denmark * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 28 January 2010; in revised form: 1 March 2010 /
Accepted: 24 March 2010 / Published: 1 April 2010 Abstract:
Besides being important in the fermentation of foods and
beverages, yeasts have shown numerous beneficial effects on
human health. Among these, probiotic effects are the most well
known health effects including prevention and treatment of
intestinal diseases and immunomodulatory effects. Other
beneficial functions of yeasts are improvement of
bioavailability of minerals through the hydrolysis of phytate,
folate biofortification and detoxification of mycotoxins due to
surface binding to the yeast cell wall. Keywords: yeasts; S.
cerevisiae var. boulardii; probiotics; phytate; folate;
mycotoxin