User:RavynCasey/sandbox

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Exopolysaccharides
The quest to find food ingredients with valuable bioactive properties has encouraged interest in exopolysaccharides from LAB. Functional food products that offer health and sensory benefits beyond their nutritional composition are becoming progressively more important to the food industry. The sensory benefits of exopolysaccharides are well established, and there is evidence for the health properties that are attributable to exopolysaccharides from LAB. However, there is a wide variation in molecular structures of exopolysaccharides and the complexity of the mechanisms by which physical changes in foods and bioactive effects are elicited.

Lactic Acid Bacteria and Dental Plaque
LAB are able to synthesize levans from sucrose, and dextrans from glucose. Glucans, such as dextran, enable bacteria to adhere to the surface of teeth, which in turn can cause tooth decay through the formation of dental plaque and production of lactic acid. While the primary bacteria responsible for tooth decay is Streptococcus mutans, LAB are among the most common oral bacteria which cause dental cavities.