Role of Probiotics in Food Fermentation and Their Health Benefits

Dear Colleagues,

In the past, food fermentation was used to preserve foods, enhance shelf life, and improve flavour. Nowadays, fermented foods have attracted scientific interest because they have been associated with many health benefits. These beneficial effects are often attributed to their nutritional and microbial composition. Different microorganisms are used as starters, adjunct cultures, and as probiotics in fermented foods due to the wide range of biomolecules that they produce during fermentation process, including specific health-promoting components. Probiotics are usually defined as live microbial dietary supplements with benefits for the host’s health that consume them in certain amounts. In this regard, fermented foods including probiotics may provide mechanisms to enhance the health status and even prevent and manage chronic diseases related to metabolic syndrome, mental health, immune system, intestinal tract, etc. These mechanisms by which probiotics exert their effects within food fermentation are largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to provide a platform for the publication of valuable articles related to the role of probiotics contributing to the food fermentation process and the health-promoting properties.

Original research articles and reviews are both welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• The development of new fermented foods with probiotic properties
• Identification of biomolecules released by probiotics during fermentation process
• Evaluation of the effects of probiotic fermented foods (in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo)
• The interaction between probiotics and other microorganisms during the fermentation process
• Health benefits of the association of fermented foods and probiotics
• Innovative fermented food products as a vehicle of probiotics
• Characterization of functionality of probiotics after the fermentation process using in vitro and in vivo models

Prof. Dr. Tomas García-Cayuela
Dr. Gabriela Zarate
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• probiotic
• probiotic fermented food, health benefits
• probiotic functionality
• food fermentation
• health-promoting components
• mechanisms of action of probiotics