Traditional Fermented Foods: Challenges, Sources, and Health Benefits of Fatty Acids
Yanxia Xing,
Mengzhen Huang,
Chinasa V. Olovo,
Chiamaka L. Mgbechidinma,
Yu Yang,
Jing Liu,
Bo Li,
Mengliu Zhu,
Kexue Yu,
He Zhu,
Xiaoman Yao,
Le Bo,
Otobong D. Akan
Affiliations
Yanxia Xing
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan 250100, China
Mengzhen Huang
College of Food Science and Engineering, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, 498 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha 410004, China
Chinasa V. Olovo
Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, UNN Nsukka, University Road, Nsukka 410001, Nigeria
Chiamaka L. Mgbechidinma
School of Life Sciences, Centre for Cell and Development Biology and State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China
Yu Yang
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan 250100, China
Jing Liu
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan 250100, China
Bo Li
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan 250100, China
Mengliu Zhu
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan 250100, China
Kexue Yu
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan 250100, China
He Zhu
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan 250100, China
Xiaoman Yao
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan 250100, China
Le Bo
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, Jinan 250100, China
Otobong D. Akan
College of Food Science and Engineering, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, 498 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha 410004, China
Traditional fermented foods harbor microbes that transform raw food components, improving their nutritional, shelf life, organoleptic, and health-promoting characteristics. Fermented foods are an important conduit of contact between bioactive components that act like antigens and the human body system. Versatile microbes in traditional fermented foods are associated with many health-promoting end-products, including dietary fatty acids and inherent fermenting microbial cells. Evidence shows that dietary fatty acid components regulate genes in a hormonally dependent manner, either directly via specific binding to nuclear receptors or indirectly by changing regulatory transcription factors. Fatty acids are implicated in anti-inflammatory, anti-obesogenic, immunoregulatory, cardioprotective, etc., activities. Challenges with scaling the production of traditional fermented foods stem from losing effective consortiums of microbial groups and the production of differential end-products. Industrialists scaling the production of traditional fermented foods must overcome safety and consistency challenges. They need to combine processes that lessen the advent of public health issues and introduce omics technologies that identify and maintain effective consortium groups, prune genes that code for toxic products, and inculcate microbes with additional beneficial characteristics. Incorporating omics in production will avail the benefits of traditional fermented foods to a larger population that craves them outside their native areas.
