Dairy and non-dairy probiotic beverages

Nowadays there has been an increased interest in the development of new functional foods and their incorporation in a healthy diet. Such products and especially probiotics exert a beneficial effect on host gut microbiota after consumption and may be capable to prevent several diseases. Fermented beverages are traditional products that act as vehicles of probiotics in human diet. Many studies the last decades have concluded that the best substrates for the delivery of probiotics are dairy products. However lactose intolerance, high fat and cholesterol, milk allergies and also the growing trend of vegetarianism has promoted the research in the field of non-dairy probiotic products. Therefore this review highlights the recent advances in the field of probiotic beverages both from dairy and non-dairy origin.