Prebiotics: Application in Bakery and Pasta Products.

The concept of functional foods has markedly moved toward gastrointestinal health. The prebiotic approach aims at achieving
favorablemilieu in the human gut by stimulating beneficial bacteria. Several food products act as substrates for the application
of prebiotic substances and bakery products are one such category. The trend of increasing consumption of bakery products
justifies the choice of using them as vehicles for delivering the prebiotic compounds. Apart from the health benefits, the
prebiotic compounds also have nutritional and technological effects in the food matrix. In addition to increasing the fiber
content, the candidate prebiotics also affect the rheology and final quality of bakery products. The prebiotic compounds
are selected accordingly to confer desirable properties in the final product. The health advantages of prebiotics being well
established, the technological advantages in bakery products such as bread and biscuits and extruded product such as pasta
are discussed elaborately.