Natural Probiotics and Nanomaterials: A New Functional Food

Natural probiotics are functional foods with several biological properties and nutritional value inherent to their chemical composition and can play a potentially beneficial role in reducing the risk of chronic degenerative diseases. In order to improve the stability of these compounds, increase the encapsulating power, delay oxidation, increase their effectiveness, control their release and improve the bioavailability of their combination with nanomaterials is a potential tool in the food area enabling the development of new products with functional and nutraceutical characteristics. In addition, the study of nanomaterials in natural probiotics is rarely reported in the literature, being an area of paramount importance in the development of new functional foods. Therefore, in this chapter, a review of nanomaterials’ use in natural probiotics will be addressed to specify their advantages and methodologies of preparation and characterization