A new method for adding probiotic supplements to nut and seed butters has been developed by Professor Dan Perlman ’68 (PHYS), according to a BrandeisNOW article. Perlman has filed a patent through the university for his method of supplementing butters after five years of working on the project.
Perlman told The Brandeis Hoot in an interview about his hypothesis that, since peanut butter has a high fat, low-moisture environment, it might be conducive to maintaining the viability of freeze-dried probiotic bacteria being inserted into it. The probiotics, when dried, go into a dormant state and remain stable as long as they are in a cool, low-moisture environment.
Perlman’s hypothesis was demonstrated at Brandeis when he and his team tested the survival rate of the bacteria in the peanut butter, said Perlman. Once a week, they would spread the product on a petri dish to count the viable colonies of the bacteria. The results were good, according to Perlman, showing that the bacterial viability was maintained at a high level. The amount of probiotics per serving (about 2 tablespoons) in Perlman’s peanut butter was intended to match the level of probiotics in commercial pills or capsules.
In processed foods, the shelf life required is typically a year, therefore the probiotic bacteria in the nut butters must be able to survive the shelf life without dying out. Perlman’s method of supplementing nut butters utilizes a specific type of peanut, used in most peanut butters, that is richer with monounsaturated fat than polyunsaturated fat, according to Perlman. This is because the polyunsaturated fats tend to oxidize faster, said Perlman, which would shorten the shelf life of a probiotic butter.
“There are some nice twists and turns that made the project and product more interesting. I hadn’t expected that almost all of the different probiotic material tested, in their freeze-dried states, are quite dense powders,” Perlman told The Hoot in the interview.
According to Perlman, this finding means that probiotics cannot be put into what he refers to as “natural butters”—butters with oil on the top. This is because the density of the bacteria particles would sink to the bottom of the oil, causing an uneven distribution of probiotics in the jar of peanut butter. Therefore, the nut or seed butter being supplemented needs to be more solid, like Skippy or Jif, that way the particles of probiotics can remain uniformly distributed after the fats within the peanut butter undergo crystallization.
Perlman’s method for adding probiotic supplements works on a variety of nut and seed butters, though his original idea was to create these supplements for peanut butter. The flavor and texture of the nut butter is maintained because the probiotic supplements are so tiny—less than a tenth of a millimeter—so they are not noticeable even in smooth peanut butter, said Perlman. There are many benefits to having probiotics added into foods, including improved digestion, regularity and metabolic processes, according to Perlman.
Perlman has been working on this project for about five years, though the idea of probiotics and peanut butter has been of interest to him for about a decade, said Perlman. After a project of Perlman’s which proved peanut butter can be supplemented with Omega 3, he began to think about the other uses of peanut butter and how to supplement it with probiotics.
“I have some track record of innovating in this product space,” said Perlman. Since 1995, Perlman has been working to create healthier fat blends, one of his more notable inventions being his healthier margarine, Smart Balance.
The patent process the product is undergoing will last over the next couple of years, according to Perlman. The patent was originally filed back in March 2018, though the patent office issue date was not until January 2020. When a patent is filed it is then sent to a group for review before being sent to a subgroup. In about a year to a year and a half, an initial office action is expected to be made by the Patent Office, though this could be longer, according to Perlman. After, there is a “back and forth” process with the Patent Office to get an allowance for the patent, and it’s rare to get an allowance for the patent the first time around, said Perlman. According to Perlman, it generally takes two to two and a half years for the patent to get issued.
