Traditional Fermented Foods as Probiotic Functional Foods - A Review

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Traditional fermented foods are foods that have been acted upon by a consortium of microorganisms with improved nutritional values, organoleptic qualities, extended shelf-life, digestibility etc. Lactic acid bacteria are a large group of closely related bacteria that are involved in food fermentation and have similar properties such as lactic acid production. Some moulds and yeasts are also involved in food fermentation. The live microorganisms consumed together with fermented foods are called probiotics and they possess beneficial effects such as improvement of the health of intestinal tract, enhancement of the immune system, synthesis and enhancement of bio-availability of nutrients. Fermented foods have nutritional advantages as well as prophylactic and therapeutic potentials collectively known as functional properties. Functional foods are produced by the inclusion of probiotic organisms and prebiotics. This review looks at the functional properties of traditional fermented foods especially cereals.