About L. plantarum

L. plantarum is widespread member of the genus Lactobacillus and is  commonly found in many fermented food products as well as anaerobic plant matter. It is also present in saliva.

Possible Benefits

In Juana Frias et al.(2008)’s study, L. plantarum has been applied to reduce the allergenicity of soy flour. The result showed that, compared to other microbes, L. plantarum-fermented soy flour showed the highest reduction in IgE immunoreactivity (96–99%), depending upon the sensitivity of the plasma used. [Source 1]

The ability of L. plantarum to produce antimicrobial substances which help them to survive in the gastro intestinal tract of human. The antimicrobial substances produced have shown significant effect on Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria.
it is also found in the human gastrointestinal tract. It is a facultative heterofermentative lactic acid bacterium that utilizes an extensive range of fermentatable carbon sources. Lactic acid bacteria are Gram-positive and they are non-spore forming, fermentative bacteria that grow anaerobically. The main function of these bacteria is the fermentative conversion of sugars present in raw materials into lactic acid. L. plantarum also produces anti-microbial peptides and exopolysaccharides. It has the ability to maintain a pH gradient between the inside and outside of the cell in the presence of large amounts of acetate or lactate. [Source 2]

Sources:

1: J Frias, Y Soo Song, C Martínez-Villalueng, E Gonzlez De Mejia, and C Vidal-Valverde. Immunoreactivity and Amino Acid Content of Fermented Soybean Products. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2008, 56 (1), pp 99–105 DOI: 10.1021/jf072177j

2″ Degradation of Raw Starch by a Wild Amylolytic Strain of Lactobacillus plantarum
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Dec. 1994, p. 4319-4323.