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Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Its Microbial-Mediated Health Benefits

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Prebiotics and Probiotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 6442

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Libera Università di Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Interests: nutrients; probiotics; prebiotics; fermentation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Libera Università di Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Interests: molecular microbiology and biotechnology of vegetable/fruit, sourdough and cheese lactic acid bacteria; synthesis of biogenic compounds by lactic acid bacteria; transcriptomics and phenomics of lactic acid bacteria in response to plant niche environments; phenolics, fatty acids, phytochemicals; human intestinal microbiome in response to dietary habits
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: lactic acid bacteria; yeasts; fermentation; metabolomics; functional foods and beverages; bioactive compounds; phenolics; phytochemicals; novel foods; food technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The journal Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643) is currently running a Special Issue entitled “Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Its Microbial-Mediated Health Benefits”, for which we are the Guest Editors. The Special Issue aims to build a solid platform to discuss the role of microorganisms in modulating the assimilation of the valuable nutrients and bioactive compounds that are carried by fruits and vegetables. Fermented plant matrices have been shown to have higher digestibility compared with the same unfermented matrices and to carry highly bioavailable nutrients and phytochemicals.  At gut level, the microbiota is responsible for a variety of metabolic activities, including the digestion of fruit and vegetables and the production of biologically active substances. On the other hand, the composition and functionality of gut microbiome are susceptible to the consumption of fruits and vegetables, which provide dietary fibres that promote the growth of beneficial microorganisms. Apart from dietary fibres, plant-based matrices also comprise a wide range of phytochemicals (e.g., phenolics, alkaloids, terpenoids, etc.) that are potentially capable of increasing or decreasing microbial abundance and rebalancing gut microbial homeostasis.

We invite you to contribute high-quality, original research and review papers on, but not limited to, the following: [i] the intake of fermented fruit and vegetable preparations and nutritional repercussions; [ii] investigation through in vitro models or in vivo into the role of probiotics in the digestion and intake of nutritional and bioactive components of fruit and vegetables; and [iii] the effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on the gut microbiome’s functionality and the resulting health implications.

Prof. Dr. Marco Gobbetti
Prof. Dr. Raffaella Di Cagno
Dr. Pasquale Filannino
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • fermentation
  • gut microbiota
  • digestibility
  • bioavailability
  • probiotic
  • prebiotic
  • postbiotic
  • phytochemicals
  • polyphenols
  • fatty acids
  • dietary fibers
  • proteins
  • fruit
  • vegetables

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2827 KiB  
Article
Sourdough “Biga” Fermentation Improves the Digestibility of Pizza Pinsa Romana: An Investigation through a Simulated Static In Vitro Model
by Alice Costantini, Michela Verni, Federica Mastrolonardo, Carlo Giuseppe Rizzello, Raffaella Di Cagno, Marco Gobbetti, Mario Breedveld, Suzan Bruggink, Kristof Lefever and Andrea Polo
Nutrients 2023, 15(13), 2958; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15132958 - 29 Jun 2023
Viewed by 3388
Abstract
Baked goods manufacturing parameters and fermentation conditions interfere with the nutrients content and affect their gastrointestinal fate. Pinsa Romana is a type of pizza that, recently, has been commercially rediscovered and that needed elucidation from a nutritional and digestibility perspective. In this study, [...] Read more.
Baked goods manufacturing parameters and fermentation conditions interfere with the nutrients content and affect their gastrointestinal fate. Pinsa Romana is a type of pizza that, recently, has been commercially rediscovered and that needed elucidation from a nutritional and digestibility perspective. In this study, six types of Pinsa Romana (five made with indirect method and one produced with straight dough technology) were characterized for their biochemical and nutritional features. Several variables like indirect (biga) Pinsa Romana production process, fermentation time and use of sourdough were investigated. The Pinsa Romana made with biga including sourdough and fermented for 48 h at 16 °C ((PR_48(SD)) resulted in the lowest predicted glycemic index, in the highest content of total peptides, total and individual free amino acids and gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), and in the best protein quality indexes (protein efficiency ratio and nutritional index). The static in vitro digestion showed that the digesta from PR_48(SD) confirmed a reduced in vitro glycemic response after intake, and it showed a lower bioavailability of hydrophilic peptides. Furthermore, the inclusion of sourdough in biga enhanced the bioavailability of protein-related end-products including human health promoting compounds such as essential amino acids. Full article
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16 pages, 2586 KiB  
Article
Identification and Selection of Prospective Probiotics for Enhancing Gastrointestinal Digestion: Application in Pharmaceutical Preparations and Dietary Supplements
by Claudia Cappello, Ali Zein Alabiden Tlais, Marta Acin-Albiac, Wilson José Fernandes Lemos Junior, Daniela Pinto, Pasquale Filannino, Fabio Rinaldi, Marco Gobbetti and Raffaella Di Cagno
Nutrients 2023, 15(6), 1306; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15061306 - 7 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2656
Abstract
Our study investigated the effectiveness of 446 strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) belonging to different species and isolated from diverse sources (food, human, and animal) as potential probiotic candidates, with the perspective of producing dietary supplements or pharmacological formulations suitable for enhancing [...] Read more.
Our study investigated the effectiveness of 446 strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) belonging to different species and isolated from diverse sources (food, human, and animal) as potential probiotic candidates, with the perspective of producing dietary supplements or pharmacological formulations suitable for enhancing gastrointestinal digestion. The survival capability of all the isolates under harsh gastrointestinal tract conditions was evaluated, in which only 44 strains, named high-resistant, were selected for further food digestibility investigations. All 44 strains hydrolyzed raffinose and exhibited amino and iminopeptidase activities but at various extents, confirming species- and strain-specificity. After partial in vitro digestion mimicking oral and gastric digestive phases, food matrices were incubated with single strains for 24 h. Fermented partially digested matrices provided additional functional properties for some investigated strains by releasing peptides and increasing the release of highly bio-accessible free phenolic compounds. A scoring procedure was proposed as an effective tool to reduce data complexity and quantitively characterize the probiotic potential of each LAB strain, which could be more useful in the selection procedure of powerful probiotics. Full article
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