Potential Functional Snacks: Date Fruit Bars Supplemented by Different Species of Lactobacillus spp.

Abstract

The influence of the addition of four different potential probiotic strains, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum (L. plantarum), Lactobacillus delbruekii subsp. bulgaricus (L. bulgaricus), Lactobacillus acidophilus (L. acidophilus) and Lactinocaseibacillus rhamnosus (L. rhamnosus), in date fruit-based products was investigated in order to evaluate the possibility of producing a functional snack. All bacterial strains tested were able to grow in date fruit palp, reaching probiotic concentrations ranging from 3.1 × 109 to 4.9 × 109 colony-forming units after 48 h of fermentation, and the pH was reduced to 3.5–3.7 or below. The viability of inoculated probiotic bacteria after 4 weeks of storage at 4 °C was slightly reduced. Some biochemical features of the fermented snacks, such as the total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity and detailed polyphenolic profile, were also evaluated. After fermentation, changes in the polyphenol profile in terms of increased free phenolic compounds and related activity were observed. These results may be attributed to the enzymatic activity of Lactobacillus spp. in catalyzing both the release of bioactive components from the food matrix and the remodeling of polyphenolic composition in favor of more bioaccessible molecules. These positive effects were more evident when the snack were fermented with L. rhamnosus. Our results suggest the use of lactic acid fermentation as an approach to enhance the nutritional value of functional foods, resulting in the enhancement of their health-promoting potential.

Thinned Nectarines, an Agro-Food Waste with Antidiabetic Potential: HPLC-HESI-MS/MS Phenolic Characterization and In Vitro Evaluation of Their Beneficial Activities

“…An HPLC DIONEX UltiMate 3000 (Thermo Fisher Scientific, San Jose, CA, USA) equipment, coupled with an autosampler, a binary solvent pump and an LTQ XL mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, San Jose, CA, USA), was used for the analysis. The chromatographic analysis was performed according to Maisto et al, with slight modifications [ 15 ]. Elution was performed on a Kinetex ® C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm; Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA).…”

Effects of Fortified Laying Hen Diet with Moringa oleifera Leaves and Goji Berries on Cholesterol and Carotenoid Egg Content

“…Quali/quantitative cholesterol analyses were performed according to Fernández et al [ 26 ] with slight modifications. Gas chromatographic analyses were carried out on a gas chromatograph Agilent mod.…”

“…The 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (Trolox) was used as a standard antioxidant, and the results were expressed in µmol of Trolox Equivalent (TE). Furthermore, the results were also reported as EC50, which is the amount of antioxidant necessary to decrease the initial DPPH • concentration by 50% [ 26 , 27 ] The percentage variation (PV), with respect to the control, was calculated for each sample according to the following formula: …”

“…The method is based on the ability of antioxidant molecules to quench ABTS •+ radical (2,20-azinobis((3-ethylbenzotiazoline-6-sulfonate)), a blue-green chromophore with characteristic absorption at 734 nm. The assay was performed according to the method described by Babbar et al [ 26 ] with slight modifications. ABTS solution was prepared by dissolving 2.5 mL of ABTS 7.0 mM solution and 44 µL of potassium persulfate 140 mM solution, which was left to react for at least 7 h at 5 °C in the dark.…”

Digital Twins for Lighting Analysis: Literature Review, Challenges, and Research Opportunities

“…Representatives of this species are included as starter cultures for the production of various types of food, as well as for the production of probiotic preparations (Arena et al, 2015;Maisto et al, 2021;Ivanov etl al., 2021). The ability to accumulate large amounts of biomass in the cultivation of lactic acid bacteria is very important for the production of probiotics.…”