Lactose-derived prebiotics provide wide ranges of gastrointestinal comforts. In this review article, the probable biochemical mechanisms through which lactose-derived prebiotics offer positive gastrointestinal health are reported along with the up-to-date results of clinical investigations; this might be the first review article of its kind, to the best of our knowledge. Lactose-derived prebiotics have unique biological and functional values, and they are confirmed as ‘safe’ by the Food and Drug Administration federal agency. Medical practitioners frequently recommend them as therapeutics as a pure form or combined with dairy-based products (yoghurt, milk and infant formulas) or fruit juices. The biological activities of lactose-derived prebiotics are expressed in the presence of gut microflora, mainly probiotics (Lactobacillus spp. in the small intestine and Bifidobacterium spp. in the large intestine). Clinical investigations reveal that galacto-oligosaccharide reduces the risks of several types of diarrhea (traveler’s diarrhea, osmotic diarrhea and Clostridium difficile associated relapsing diarrhea). Lactulose and lactosucrose prevent inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis). Lactulose and lactitol reduce the risk of hepatic encephalopathy. Furthermore, lactulose, galacto-oligosaccharide and lactitol prevent constipation in individuals of all ages. It is expected that the present review article will receive great attention from medical practitioners and food technologists.

Membrane-based beverage dealcoholization is a successful process for producing low- and non-alcoholic beer and represents a fast-growing industry. Polyamide NF and RO membranes are commonly applied for this process. Polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) NF membranes are emerging as industrially relevant species, and their unique properties (usually hollow fiber geometry, high and tunable selectivity, low fouling) underlines the importance of testing them in the food industry as well. To test PEM NF membranes for beer dealcoholization at a small pilot scale, we dealcoholized filtered and unfiltered lager beer with the tightest available commercial polyelectrolyte multilayer NF membrane (NX Filtration dNF40), which has a MWCO = 400 Da, which is quite high for these purposes. Dealcoholization is possible with a reasonable flux (10 L/m²h) at low pressures (5–8.6 bar) with a real extract loss of 15–18% and an alcohol passage of ~100%. Inorganic salt passage is high (which is typical for PEM NF membranes), which greatly affected beer flavor. During the dealcoholization process, the membrane underwent changes which substantially increased its salt rejection values (MgSO₄ passage decreased fourfold) while permeance loss was minimal (less than 10%). According to our sensory evaluation, the process yielded an acceptable tasting beer which could be greatly enhanced by the addition of the lost salts and glycerol.

The goals of the present investigation are to study and to model pale lager beer dealcoholization via reverse osmosis (RO). Samples were dealcoholized at a temperature of 15 ± 1 °C. An Alfa Laval RO99 membrane with a 0.05 m² surface was used. The flux values were measured during the separations. The ethanol content, extract content, bitterness, color, pH, turbidity, and dynamic viscosity of beer and permeate samples were measured. The initial flux values were determined using linear regression. The initial ethanol flux ($J_{EtOH 0}$) values were calculated from the initial flux values and the ethanol content values. A 2^P full factorial experimental design was applied, and the factors were as follows: transmembrane pressure (TMP): 10, 20, 30 bar; retentate flow rate (Q): 120, 180, 240 L/h; $J_{EtOH 0}$ was considered as the response. The effect sizes of the significant parameters were calculated. The global maximum of the objective function was found using a self-developed Grid Search code. The changes in the analytical parameters were appropriate. The TMP had a significant effect, while the Q had no significant effect on the $J_{EtOH 0}$. The effect size of the TMP was 1.20. The optimal value of the factor amounted to TMP = 30 bar. The predicted $J_{EtOH 0}$ under the above conditions was 121.965 g/m² h.

Removing hot and cold trub from hopped wort is important, because of yeast viability, beer filtration, quality and fermentation in Membrane Bioreactor. Trub can be removed by several methods, but Crossflow Microfiltration (CFMF) would be an alternative technology. For the filtration a wort was produced. The filtration was performed with the following parameters: temperature (10 ± 1°C), Transmembrane Pressure (0.4 bar), and Crossflow Velocity (0.4 m s⁻¹). Membrane with pore size of 0.2 μm was applied. The fluxes were determined. Particle size distributions and analytical parameters of samples were measured and retentions were calculated. The initial and steady‐state fluxes were 16.75 and 4.89 L m⁻² hr⁻¹. According to the particle size distributions trub can be removed. Changing of the analytical parameters is appropriate, for example, retention of β‐glucan was 40.17% and Free Amino Nitrogen content did not change. CFMF is an alternative method for removing trub, but the optimization is essential.Practical applications: Crossflow Microfiltration (CFMF) would be an alternative and novel technology for removal of hot trub and cold trub from hopped wort and the two processes can be performed simultaneously with the same CFMF equipment. The main advantages of the CFMF are less solid residues, lower energy consumption, lower water requirements, and microbiologically stable product.Our research has several practical applications as mentioned below.First removing at least some hot trub can decrease the production losses and improve yeast viability, beer filtration performance and the quality of finished beer, and removing at least some cold trub can improve yeast viability and the quality of finished beer.Furthermore, if primary fermentation is performed in Membrane Bioreactor (MBR), wort particles (e.g., cold trub) can cause fouling.Finally, it has been proven that hot trub and cold trub can be completely removed by CFMF and the changing of the analytical parameters is appropriate.