2023-03-13
The molecular processes initiated during fermentation by lactic acid bacteria in dairy products is well understood, such as proteolysis of caseins into peptides and amino acids, and the utilisation of carbohydrates to form lactic acid and exopolysaccharides. At present, many lactic acid bacteria products are obtained by fermenting in dairy products, such as yogurt.

Plants are excellent sources of health promoting components, such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phenolics, and dietary fibers. However, most of such plant beneficial compounds are encrypted within macromolecules and present low bioaccessibility and bioavailability. In order to exert a health benefit, phytochemicals might need to be released from the plant matrix components and converted into accessible bioactive compounds. Their transition may be driven by several factors, including the microbial processing such as fermentation. Microbial metabolisms may also enrich plant nutrients with functional microbial metabolites, and/or decrease the inherent content of anti-nutritional factors, with beneficial repercussions for human health. The health-promoting properties of botanical ingredients or foods are achieved through a fermentation process, lactic acid bacteria fermentation is the most implemented.

Chinese medicated diet is based on the theoretical basis of traditional Chinese medicine, combined plants and food together, through cooking and processing to be a delicious food with the functions of preventing and curing diseases, health care and strengthening the body. Diet therapy is a precious cultural heritage by the ancestors of the Chinese nation. At present, many studies used the combination of probiotics and plants, firstly, the symbiotic fermentation mechanism of multiple probiotics is used to create a digestive model to simulates the normal human gastrointestinal tract, then combined with plants extracts, the ingredients of plants are used as a source of nutrition for symbiotic probiotics. At this time, the symbiotic probiotics will start to ferment, digest the active ingredients of the plant extracts into small molecules that are easier to absorb, and synthesize organic acids, vitamins and trace elements with health value. The fermented product after such a process not only has a sufficient amount of probiotic bacteria, but also contains small molecule plant active ingredients, organic acids, vitamins and trace elements, which is completely different from the current commercially available probiotic products. Such a combination of plant diet therapy and probiotic health food can be integrated into life, obtain long-term health care effects, and create new opportunities for probiotic products.

References:
  1. Aimee R. Harper, Renwick C.J. Dobson, Vanessa K. Morris, and Gert-Jan Moggr. Fermentation of plant-based dairy alternatives by lactic acid bacteria. Microbial Biotechnology (2022) 15(5), 1404–1421.
  2. Raffaella Di Cagno, Pasquale Filannino, and Marco Gobbetti. Microbial Metabolic Pathways and the “Fermented Plant Foods—Human Health” Axis. Foods 2021, 10, 1105. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10051105
0