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Marine-Derived Aspergillus
Published in Se-Kwon Kim, Marine Biochemistry, 2023
V Janakiraman, KG Monisha, V Ramakrishnan, Shiek SSJ Ahmed
Aspergillus is well known for both their positive and negative sides. The positive role that Aspergillus species plays is a predominant role in the production of enzymes, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food fermentation, and drug discovery. For instance, in East Asia, Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger are widely used for fermenting food and producing amylase, pectinases, and citric acid enzymes. Koji molds, which are nothing but Aspergillus oryzae, have been used for making alcoholic beverages, vinegar, soybean pastes, and soy sauce. On the other hand, the negative part of this species results from its extremely harmful toxicity if consumed; it may even cause liver failure. Toxin-secreting Aspergillus species, such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, ooze mycotoxin aflatoxins that are well known for their contamination of plant-synthesized feeds and foods. The intake of mycotoxin aflatoxin–contaminated food causes liver necrosis, liver cancer, and aflatoxicosis (Wang et al. 2018).
Fungi and Water
Published in Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy, Food and Lifestyle in Health and Disease, 2022
Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy
Yeasts are mainly used in food fermentation for the processing of alcohol beverages such as wine, beer, cider, rum, liquor, and so on. They are also used for baking bread and cakes and making dairy products like cheese, yogurt, and cream. Yeasts are also used in medicine for preparing β-glucan (an immunostimulant), B group vitamins, and amino acids, because yeasts are rich in these nutrients. Some yeasts can produce various drugs such as insulin, interferon, probiotics, and some vaccines. Some yeasts are used to treat intestinal troubles. However, yeasts like Candida albicans are pathogens that can cause oral and vaginal infections.
B-Group Vitamin-Producing Lactic Acid Bacteria
Published in Marcela Albuquerque Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, Alejandra de Moreno de LeBlanc, Jean Guy LeBlanc, Raquel Bedani, Lactic Acid Bacteria, 2020
Marcela Albuquerque Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, María del Milagro Teran, Luiz Henrique Groto Garutti, Ana Clara Candelaria Cucik, Susana Marta Isay Saad, Bernadette Dora Gombossy de Melo Franco, Jean Guy LeBlanc
One possible advantage of food fermentation is the possibility to increase the content of some nutrients such as thiamine, in the fermented product, improving its nutritional value. Some probiotic bacteria (including Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium) are producers of B-vitamins thus, foods fermented by selected strains could be an additional source of these components (Albuquerque et al. 2016). Moreover, prebiotic supplements are capable of intensifying bacterial growth and potentially vitamin synthesis in the gut as well as in foods (LeBlanc et al. 2017).
Effects of intestinal flora on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs
Published in Drug Metabolism Reviews, 2023
Amina Džidić-Krivić, Jasna Kusturica, Emina Karahmet Sher, Nejra Selak, Nejra Osmančević, Esma Karahmet Farhat, Farooq Sher
Moreover, Zimmermann-Kogadeeva et al. (2020) observed changes in drug kinetics in two groups of animals. The first group of gnotobiotic mice was germ-free and the second group had unaltered microbiota. The study showed a significant reduction of drug in the large intestine in the second group confirming the hypothesis that gut microbiota has the power to alter drug pharmacokinetics. It is important to highlight that this process goes bidirectional, meaning that different drugs could alter the bacteria genera in the gut. On the other hand, gut microbiota could also interfere with drug metabolism and, both indirectly and directly, alter their structure and function in the organism as shown in Figure 3. One of the metabolites that gut microbiota produces from dietary choline, marked as Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), is associated with major cardiovascular events. In addition, the gut enhances the production of some beneficial molecules through food fermentation and their release into the circulation, such as short chain fatty acids (SCFA). These molecules have strong anti-inflammatory properties and they help to maintain the integrity of the intestinal barrier (Zimmermann-Kogadeeva et al. 2020).
Fermented Soy Drink (Q-CAN® PLUS) Induces Apoptosis and Reduces Viability of Cancer Cells
Published in Nutrition and Cancer, 2022
Xinshou Ouyang, Yonglin Chen, Boodapati S. Tejaswi, Suyavaran Arumugam, Eric Secor, Theresa R. Weiss, Michael Leapman, Ather Ali
There are several challenges in extending beyond associative studies of fermented foods and cancer, or other health effects of fermented foods. The development of food fermentation processes has mostly been empiric and iterative with little understanding of the biochemical processes involved. Also, the biochemistry is very complicated and for most fermented foods there is not even an accurate quantification of their biochemical constituents, let alone the biochemical pathways that resulted in their production. Finally, many studies use experimental or locally obtained fermented products making confirmation of their findings, and further testing by other groups, almost impossible. We chose to use a widely available fermented soy product (Q-CAN® PLUS), as this would allow for verification and further studies by the wider scientific community.
Cytotoxic and Apoptotic Induction Potential of Extracts from Fermented Citrullus vulgaris Thunb. Seeds on Cervical and Liver Cancer Cells
Published in Journal of Dietary Supplements, 2021
Rachael Aderonke Ayo-Lawal, Omolaja Osoniyi, Nicole Remaliah Samantha Sibuyi, Mervin Meyer, Okobi Ekpo
Food fermentation involves the purposeful addition of edible micro-organisms to food substances in order to enhance palatability, nutritional value, preservative, and medicinal properties. As a result, fermented foods are known to produce bioactive compounds including peptides beyond those found naturally occurring in their un-fermented counterparts (Martins et al. 2011). Some fermented foods containing bioactive peptides are acclaimed to confer a variety of important nutritional and therapeutic benefits including antioxidant, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, antithrombotic, opioid, and anti-cancer activities (Hebert et al. 2010). Furthermore, various studies have established the protective effects of some fermented foods against the development of cancer. These include: Kimchi (Park 1995; Hur et al. 2000); Sauerkraut, fermented vegetable of Germany (Kris-Etherton et al. 2002) and fermented wheat germ extract (Mueller and Voigt 2011). Others include: Kefir (Yanping et al. 2009), fermented cabbage and fermented red beet (Farhad et al. 2010).