The microflora of Tibetan kefir grains was investigated by culture- independent methods. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of partially amplified 16S rRNA for bacteria and 26S rRNA for yeasts, followed by sequencing of the most intense bands, showed that the dominant microorganisms were Pseudomonas sp., Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus kefiranofaci...

INTRODUCTION Kefir is obtained by fermentation of milk with complex microbial populations present in kefir grains. Several health-promoting benefits have been attributed to kefir consumption. OBJECTIVE The objective of this work was to conduct a subchronic toxicity study, offering the rats normal or high-doses of kefir and evaluating growth, hematology and blood chemistry, as well as assessin...

The objective of the present study was to investigate yeast communities in kefir grains and viili starters in Taiwan through conventional microbiological cultivation and polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). The DNA sequencing was used as a validity technique to ensure that all isolates within each group belonged to just one species, and to confirm the id...

In recent years, there has been a strong focus on beneficial foods with probiotic microorganisms and functional organic substances. In this context, there is an increasing interest in the commercial use of kefir, since it can be marketed as a natural beverage that has health promoting bacteria. There are numerous commercially available kefir based-products. Kefir may act as a matrix in the effe...

Several studies have reported that lactic acid bacteria may increase the production of free fatty acids by lipolysis of milk fat, though no studies have been found in the literature showing the effect of kefir grains on the composition of fatty acids in milk. In this study the influence of kefir grains from different origins [Rio de Janeiro (AR), Viçosa (AV) e Lavras (AD)], different time of st...

The effect of oral administration of a polysaccharide (KGF-C), isolated from the kefir grain, on delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) induced by picryl chloride and on the growth of solid tumor was examined in mice. KGF-C caused an increase in DTH response in intact mice and also tumor-bearing mice. The growth of tumor inoculated after the DTH test was markedly inhibited in the groups with high ...

We report here the genome sequences of three novel bacterial species strains-Bacillus kefirresidentii Opo, Rothia kefirresidentii KRP, and Streptococcus kefirresidentii YK-isolated from kefir grains collected in Germany. The draft genomes of these isolates were remarkably dissimilar (average nucleotide identities, 77.80%, 89.01%, and 92.10%, respectively) to those of the previously sequenced st...

Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education: Originally different kefir grains may contain various microbial complexes. The beneficial effects of probiotic microorganisms vary from strain to strain and condition to condition. Knowing their microbial characterizations is needed for the safety confirmation. Copyright © 2014, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences; ...

A Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus HP1 strain with high exopolysaccharide activity was selected from among 40 strains of lactic acid bacteria, isolated from kefir grains. By associating the Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus HP1 strain with Streptococcus thermophilus T15, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis C15, Lactobacillus helveticus MP12, and Sacharomyces cerevisiae A13, a ...