Antioxidant Activity of Fermented Foods

A special issue of Fermentation (ISSN 2311-5637). This special issue belongs to the section "Fermentation for Food and Beverages".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 April 2025 | Viewed by 3470

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
Interests: gut microbiota; inflammatory bowel disease; prebiotic; probiotic; polysaccharide; phenolics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fermented foods are produced by the action of microorganisms on food substances, resulting in the production of a wide range of compounds that contribute to their unique flavor, texture, and nutritional value. In recent years, the health benefits of fermented foods have gained attention, particularly their antioxidant activity.

During oxidative stress, an important factor in the development of many diseases, cellular oxidative and antioxidant activities are imbalanced due to various internal and external factors such as inflammation or diet. Antioxidants are compounds that protect cells from damage caused by free radicals. Therefore, diverse synthetic and natural antioxidants have received increasing interest from the scientific and industrial fields of nutraceutical research and development, due to their abilities to maintain human health and prevent serious human diseases. In particular, natural antioxidants, such as polyphenols, carotenoids, flavonoids, and anthocyanins, have been considered to be promising as a result of their excellent activities and non-toxic properties.

Fermentation can increase antioxidant activity in foods because microbial hydrolysis reactions during fermentation increase the content of phenolic compounds and flavonoids. Therefore, humans can adequately supplement their diet with natural antioxidants by consuming fermented foods. In addition, the application of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, paraprobiotics and postbiotics from fermentation foods has been reported to improve host health via antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial as well as gut modulation effects. Recently, gut microbiota has attracted more and more attention as a “vital organ” in close contact with other organs and thus mediate human health, animal nutrition and production. The study of antioxidative and gut microbial modulation effect of fermentation foods towards one-health perspective would help in highlighting the importance of understanding the prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics effects from a multisectoral perspective and requires coordinated, collaborative, multidisciplinary, and cross-sectoral approaches.

This Special Issue focuses on the antioxidant activity of fermented foods, and also includes the biosynthesis and mass production of antioxidants from fermented foods and food microorganisms (e.g., lactic acid bacteria, yeast, fungi, bacteria, etc.), as well as the evaluation of their antioxidative functions and gut microbial modulation effects.

Dr. Xiaodan Huang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • fermented foods
  • antioxidants
  • fermentation
  • biosynthesis
  • vitamin
  • isoflavone
  • carotenoid
  • flavonoid
  • microorganisms

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 994 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Study on the Antioxidative Activity and Phenolic Content of Fresh and Black (Fermented) Allium Vegetables
by Taha Gökmen Ülger and Funda Pınar Çakıroğlu
Fermentation 2024, 10(9), 486; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation10090486 - 19 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1112
Abstract
Allium genus vegetables have significant functional effects on health. In recent years, consumer demand for black forms of these vegetables, produced from fresh Alliums through spontaneous fermentation at high temperature and humidity, has increased, while their functional effects have yet to be fully [...] Read more.
Allium genus vegetables have significant functional effects on health. In recent years, consumer demand for black forms of these vegetables, produced from fresh Alliums through spontaneous fermentation at high temperature and humidity, has increased, while their functional effects have yet to be fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to compare the antioxidant capacity and total phenol content of various Allium vegetables (yellow onion, red onion, white onion, and garlic) in both their raw and black (fermented) forms. For the production of black onions and black garlic, unpeeled raw forms of these vegetables were kept at 75 °C and 90% humidity for 9 days. Afterward, fresh and fermented samples were lyophilized, dried, and evaluated for total phenol content by the Folin–Ciocalteu method and for antioxidant activity by the ABTS and DPPH methods. The total phenol content increased significantly in all samples after fermentation (p < 0.05), with the highest increases observed in garlic (216%), while the increases in onion species ranged between 44.6% and 118.3%. The increase in antioxidant capacity was also significant in all samples (p < 0.05) and was higher in garlic than in onions. Changes in antioxidant capacity and total phenol content indicate that fermentation improves the nutritional quality of these vegetables. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antioxidant Activity of Fermented Foods)
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12 pages, 1082 KiB  
Article
Changes of Antioxidant and Functional Components in Various Salt-Aged and Fresh Radishes after Fermentation
by Chih-Feng Wang, Cui-Rou Huang and Ying-Chen Lu
Fermentation 2024, 10(9), 479; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation10090479 - 14 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1501
Abstract
Many studies have found that salted radishes offer various health benefits, such as enhancing antioxidant levels and increasing GABA. This study fermented a mixture of 20-year-old salted radishes (20-S. radishes), 2-year-old salted radishes (2-S. radishes), 20-year-old salted radishes combined with fresh radishes (R [...] Read more.
Many studies have found that salted radishes offer various health benefits, such as enhancing antioxidant levels and increasing GABA. This study fermented a mixture of 20-year-old salted radishes (20-S. radishes), 2-year-old salted radishes (2-S. radishes), 20-year-old salted radishes combined with fresh radishes (R + 20-radishes), and fresh radishes with eight whole grains fermentation as a starter (EGS) for 8 weeks. EGS was derived from the saccharified fermentation of millet, wheat, sorghum, black rice, buckwheat, pearled rice, black glutinous rice, and quinoa, serving as a carbon source for microorganisms and replacing the traditional sugar-based fermentation method. During the fermentation process, the bacterial count of the 20-year-old salted radishes significantly increased to 11.08 ± 0.03 log CFU/mL, which was much higher than the other three groups. Pichia manshurica LYC1722 was identified in all four groups after isolation. After 8 weeks of fermentation, 20-S. radishes showed the highest concentrations of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glucuronic acid in functional components, at 18.40 ± 0.69 ppm and 14,162.84 ± 48.22 ppm, respectively. In terms of antioxidant components, 20-S. radishes exhibited a total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of 0.81 ± 0.01 mg/mL and 42.78 ± 0.60 mg/L, respectively. Regarding antioxidant capability, 20-S. radishes displayed ABTS radical scavenging activity and DPPH radical scavenging activity at 184.42 ± 0.28 μg/mL and 9.13 ± 0.28 μg/mL, respectively. These values were the highest among the four groups evaluated. Fresh radishes exhibited the highest angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition after fermentation among the four groups, reaching 69.04 ± 2.82%, slightly higher than 20-S. radishes. These results show that 20-S. radishes are expected to become a novel health beverage in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antioxidant Activity of Fermented Foods)
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