Millet Fermented by Different Combinations of Yeasts and Lactobacilli: Effects on Phenolic Composition, Starch, Mineral Content and Prebiotic Activity
Diletta Balli,
Lorenzo Cecchi,
Giuseppe Pieraccini,
Manuel Venturi,
Viola Galli,
Marta Reggio,
Diana Di Gioia,
Sandra Furlanetto,
Serena Orlandini,
Marzia Innocenti,
Nadia Mulinacci
Affiliations
Diletta Balli
Department of NEUROFARBA and Multidisciplinary Centre of Research on Food Sciences (M.C.R.F.S.-Ce.R.A), University of Florence, Via Ugo Schiff 6, 50019 Florence, Italy
Lorenzo Cecchi
Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI), University of Florence, 50144 Florence, Italy
Giuseppe Pieraccini
Mass Spectrometry Center (CISM), University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139 Florence, Italy
Manuel Venturi
Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI), University of Florence, 50144 Florence, Italy
Viola Galli
Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI), University of Florence, 50144 Florence, Italy
Marta Reggio
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 42, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Diana Di Gioia
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 42, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Sandra Furlanetto
Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Via Ugo Schiff 6, 50019 Florence, Italy
Serena Orlandini
Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Via Ugo Schiff 6, 50019 Florence, Italy
Marzia Innocenti
Department of NEUROFARBA and Multidisciplinary Centre of Research on Food Sciences (M.C.R.F.S.-Ce.R.A), University of Florence, Via Ugo Schiff 6, 50019 Florence, Italy
Nadia Mulinacci
Department of NEUROFARBA and Multidisciplinary Centre of Research on Food Sciences (M.C.R.F.S.-Ce.R.A), University of Florence, Via Ugo Schiff 6, 50019 Florence, Italy
Millet is the sixth-highest yielding grain in the world and a staple crop for millions of people. Fermentation was applied in this study to improve the nutritional properties of pearl millet. Three microorganism combinations were tested: Saccharomyces boulardii (FPM1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae plus Campanilactobacillus paralimentarius (FPM2) and Hanseniaspora uvarum plus Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis (FPM3). All the fermentation processes led to an increase in minerals. An increase was observed for calcium: 254 ppm in FPM1, 282 ppm in FPM2 and 156 ppm in the unfermented sample. Iron increased in FPM2 and FPM3 (approx. 100 ppm) with respect the unfermented sample (71 ppm). FPM2 and FPM3 resulted in richer total phenols (up to 2.74 mg/g) compared to the unfermented sample (2.24 mg/g). Depending on the microorganisms, it was possible to obtain different oligopeptides with a mass cut off ≤10 kDalton that was not detected in the unfermented sample. FPM2 showed the highest resistant starch content (9.83 g/100 g) and a prebiotic activity on Bifidobacterium breve B632, showing a significant growth at 48 h and 72 h compared to glucose (p Saccharomyces cerevisiae plus Campanilactobacillus paralimentarius can be proposed as a new food with improved nutritional properties to increase the quality of the diet of people who already use millet as a staple food.
