Question

Assertion (A): Besides curdling of milk, LAB also improves its nutritional quality by increasing Vitamin B12.

Reason (R): LAB, when present in the stomach, checks disease-causing microbes.

Options

• Both Assertion (A) and Reason (R) are true and Reason (R) is the correct explanation of the Assertion (A).

• Both Assertion (A) and Reason (R) are true, but Reason (R) is not the correct explanation of the Assertion (A).

• Assertion (A) is true, but Reason (R) is false.

• Assertion (A) is false, but Reason (R) is true.

Answer 1

Assertion (A) is false, but Reason (R) is true.

Explanation:

• Assertion is false: ordinary lactic acid bacteria used to curdle milk do not generally produce appreciable vitamin B12; increasing vitamins in foods requires specific biofortification or use of B12-producing microbes/strains rather than being a general property of all LAB.
• Reason is true: LAB (probiotic lactic acid bacteria) can inhibit disease-causing microbes in the gut by acidifying the environment, competing for niches/nutrients and producing antimicrobial compounds, so they help check pathogens.