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Probiotic yogurt, comprised of a Fiti sachet containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Streptococcus thermophilus C106, has been used in the developing world, notably Africa, to alleviate malnutrition and disease. In sub-Saharan African countries, fermentation of cereals such as millet, is culturally significant. The aim of this study was to investigate the fermentation capability of millet when one gram of the Fiti sachet consortium was added. An increase of 1.8 and 1.4 log CFU/mL was observed for S. thermophilus C106 and L. rhamnosus GR-1 when grown in 8% millet in water. Single cultures of L. rhamnosus GR-1 showed the highest μmax when grown in the presence of dextrose, galactose and fructose. Single cultures of S. thermophilus C106 showed the highest μmax when grown in the presence of sucrose and lactose. All tested recipes reached viable counts of the probiotic bacteria, with counts greater than 106 colony-forming units (CFU)/mL. Notably, a number of organic acids were quantified, in particular phytic acid, which was shown to decrease when fermentation time increased, thereby improving the bioavailability of specific micronutrients. Millet fermented in milk proved to be the most favorable, according to a sensory evaluation. In conclusion, this study has shown that sachets being provided to African communities to produce fermented milk, can also be used to produce fermented millet. This provides an option for when milk supplies are short, or if communities wish to utilize the nutrient-rich qualities of locally-grown millet.

Peptides are important compounds used in the development of functional biomaterials, functional foods and nutraceuticals. The functional and bioactive properties of peptides are directly linked to their structural features, including molecular size, presence or absence of charges, amino acid sequence, hydrophobicity, and hydrophilicity. The role of peptide structures in their bioactivities and functionalities is still emerging. Some bioactive peptides have undesirable taste, which can influence consumer interests in novel peptide-based food applications. In this review, we discussed the role of peptide hydrophobicity in their bioavailability, bioactivity, bitterness property, emulsion stability, aggregation and self-assembly for application in novel food formulations and nutraceutical/ drug delivery.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a leading cause of death globally. T2DM patients experience glucose intolerance, and inhibitors of dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) and α-glucosidase are used as drugs for T2DM management. DPP-IV and α-glucosidase inhibitors are also naturally contained in foods, but their potency can be affected by the food matrix and processing methods. In this study, germination and solid-state fermentation (SSF) were used to alter pulse seed microstructures, to convert compounds into more bioactive forms, and to improve their bioaccessibility. Germination substantially modified the seed microstructure, protein digestibility, contents and profiles of phenolic compounds in all the pulses. It also increased DPP-IV and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities in chickpeas, faba beans and yellow peas. Compared to germination, SSF with Lactobacillus plantarum changed the content and the profile of phenolic compounds mainly in yellow peas and green lentils because of greater disruption of the seed cell wall. In the same pulses, heat treatment and SSF of flour increased DPP-IV and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. The results of this study suggest that germination and SSF with L. plantarum are effective and simple methods for modulating phenolic and protein profiles of common pulses and improve the action on DPP-IV and α-glucosidase.

Malnutrition is a public health concern and chronic protein malnutrition is prevalent in early childhood in many developing countries. Plant proteins are good candidates for meeting the growing protein needs. RuBisCo (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) is a photosynthetic enzyme that exists in 4 forms (I, II, III, and IV), with form I being characteristic of higher plants. Form I RuBisCo represents 50% of leaf proteins, and is, therefore, important as a source of protein for nutrition and as a functional ingredient, although the laborious extraction process for plant proteins can limit their use in food products. Column chromatography is the most effective RuBisCo purification step for laboratory research, while ultrafiltration has shown prospects for large-scale applications. RuBisCo has excellent solubility in alkaline pH and at low denaturation temperatures. Thus, RuBisCo can form brittle gels at low concentrations, which can influence the chemosensory properties of products containing the proteins. Foaming of RuBisCo occurs around its isoelectric point, while emulsifying capacity proportionally increases with pH. Heating prior to emulsification increased the strength and stability of emulsion formed with RuBisCo.The protein is also attractive due to its high nutritional values and in vitro digestibility. Furthermore, RuBisCo is a competitive source of bioactive peptides with opioid-like, memory-enhancing, appetite-stimulating, antioxidative, and antihypertensive properties, demonstrating the wide range of food applications where RuBisCo can be utilized.

BackgroundImportant industrial traits have been linked to plasmids in Lactococcus lactis.ResultsThe dairy isolate L. lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis FM03P was sequenced revealing the biggest plasmidome of all completely sequenced and published L. lactis strains up till now. The 12 plasmids that were identified are: pLd1 (8277 bp), pLd2 (15,218 bp), pLd3 (4242 bp), pLd4 (12,005 bp), pLd5 (7521 bp), pLd6 (3363 bp), pLd7 (30,274 bp), pLd8 (47,015 bp), pLd9 (15,313 bp), pLd10 (39,563 bp), pLd11 (9833 bp) and pLd12 (3321 bp). Structural analysis of the repB promoters and the RepB proteins showed that eleven of the plasmids replicate via the theta-type mechanism, while only plasmid pLd3 replicates via a rolling-circle replication mechanism. Plasmids pLd2, pLd7 and pLd10 contain a highly similar operon involved in mobilisation of the plasmids. Examination of the twelve plasmids of L. lactis FM03P showed that 10 of the plasmids carry putative genes known to be important for growth and survival in the dairy environment. These genes encode technological functions such as lactose utilisation (lacR-lacABCDFEGX), citrate uptake (citQRP), peptide degradation (pepO and pepE) and oligopeptide uptake (oppDFBCA), uptake of magnesium and manganese (2 mntH, corA), exopolysaccharides production (eps operon), bacteriophage resistance (1 hsdM, 1 hsdR and 7 different hsdS genes of a type I restriction-modification system, an operon of three genes encoding a putative type II restriction-modification system and an abortive infection gene) and stress resistance (2 uspA, cspC and cadCA). Acquisition of these plasmids most likely facilitated the adaptation of the recipient strain to the dairy environment. Some plasmids were already lost during a single propagation step signifying their instability in the absence of a selective pressure.ConclusionsLactococcus lactis FM03P carries 12 plasmids important for its adaptation to the dairy environment. Some of the plasmids were easily lost demonstrating that propagation outside the dairy environment should be minimised when studying dairy isolates of L. lactis.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5005-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Belonging to the Fabaceae family, pulses are the legume crops harvested for their dry seed only, and not for their edible oil. 37 Pulses such as cowpea, common beans and lentils are traditionally included as staple foods in Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America diets, being the main protein source in many developing nations. [38][39][40] Their connotation of "protein of the poor man" in the Asian culture, and an erroneous perception as low quality food sources hinders their consumption in richer and Western nations. 41 The global westernization of diets and economic transition further favoured animal-proteins over pulses, further decreasing their consumption. 42 Yet, increasing concern for environmental impact of animal products is driving consumers interest towards plant-proteins. Pulses have a great potential in this context, considering the high protein content (~ 20-30 % of dry weight) and their excellent macro-and micronutrient compositions (Table 2). Although the limitation in the amino acid methionine lowers their protein quality score compared to animal sources, their culinary combination with the methionine rich and lysine poor cereals often encountered in traditional foods compensates this deficiency, providing a higher protein quality profile. 43 Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) Faba bean (Vicia faba) Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Lentil (Lens culinaris)Pea (Pisum sativum) Macronutrients (g / 100 g dry weight) Carbohydrates 14 Flatulence factorsConsumption of legumes is also often associated with gastrointestinal discomfort. 85 Flatus formation is due to presence of large amounts of indigestible oligosaccharides in plant seeds, which are fermented by commensal bacteria with gas formation. Fructans and raffinose-family oligosaccharides (RFOs) are the most abundant water-soluble carbohydrates in plants, where they function as reserve carbohydrates and stresses protectants. 89,90 Sharing similar physiological activities, they usually do not occur in the same plant. RFOs are characteristic in pulse seeds. After the initial formation of sucrose from photosynthesis, RFOs are formed by a stepwise addition of galactose residues via and α-1,6glycosidic linkage. 90 Raffinose (Suc-[Gal]1), stachyose (Suc-[Gal]2) and verbascose (Suc-[Gal]3) are the most abundant RFOs in pulse seeds. When required by the plant, RFOs are metabolized by the endogenous α-galactosidase. However, this enzyme is not produced by humans and monogastric animals, which are therefore unable to digest RFOs. Undigested RFOs reach the colon and are metabolized by commensal bacteria with accumulation of CO2, hydrogen and methane, which constitute ¾ of the flatus. [91][92][93] As RFOs are water-soluble, soaking can decrease the content of RFOs by about 20 to 40 %. 94,95 Cooking was shown to additionally decrease RFOs content in some, but not others, legumes. 94 However, a considerable amount of RFOs persist in the seeds even after these pretreatments, and flatulence is still experienced by consumers. Approaches targeting a more substanti...