Cereals bars added with probiotics and prebiotics

In recent years, eating habits and lifestyle of the consumers have changed, encouraged by finding healthier and more nutritious food habits. The current changes have increased the demand for foods that promote health and wellness, such as functional products (foods with probiotics and prebiotics). The cereal bars’ increasing acceptance by the consumers is not only associated with its convenience format but especially connected to the high nutritional value, mainly conveyed by the amount of dietary fiber. The application of dietary fiber in foods is promoted by the nutrition guidelines that recommend the increase of dietary-fiber intake, considering that low-fiber consumption has been implicated as a risk factor in many diseases. In this chapter, studies related with the production of prebiotic, probiotic, and symbiotic cereal bars or other cereal products as functional foods were investigated, and the aspects of these functional products were discussed, considering the previous studies in vitro and in vivo and the health benefits for consumers. Additionally, the economic factors and market opportunities of the cereal products were also approached throughout this review. In the future, more studies might be required to improve the bioavailability and bioaccessibility properties of the quality optimization of the cereal products with probiotic strains and prebiotic compounds.