Review
Food phenolics and lactic acid bacteria

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2009.03.025Get rights and content

Abstract

Phenolic compounds are important constituents of food products of plant origin. These compounds are directly related to sensory characteristics of foods such as flavour, astringency, and colour. In addition, the presence of phenolic compounds on the diet is beneficial to health due to their chemopreventive activities against carcinogenesis and mutagenesis, mainly due to their antioxidant activities. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are autochthonous microbiota of raw vegetables. To get desirable properties on fermented plant-derived food products, LAB has to be adapted to the characteristics of the plant raw materials where phenolic compounds are abundant. Lactobacillus plantarum is the commercial starter most frequently used in the fermentation of food products of plant origin. However, scarce information is still available on the influence of phenolic compounds on the growth and viability of L. plantarum and other LAB species. Moreover, metabolic pathways of biosynthesis or degradation of phenolic compounds in LAB have not been completely described. Results obtained in L. plantarum showed that L. plantarum was able to degrade some food phenolic compounds giving compounds influencing food aroma as well as compounds presenting increased antioxidant activity. Recently, several L. plantarum proteins involved in the metabolism of phenolic compounds have been genetically and biochemically characterized. The aim of this review is to give a complete and updated overview of the current knowledge among LAB and food phenolics interaction, which could facilitate the possible application of selected bacteria or their enzymes in the elaboration of food products with improved characteristics.

Introduction

In the last years, researchers and food manufacturers have become increasingly interested in phenolic compounds. The reason for this interest is the recognition of their antioxidant properties, their great abundance in our diet, and their probable role in the prevention of various diseases associated with oxidative stress, such as cancer, and cardiovascular and degenerative diseases (Manach et al., 2004).

The term “phenolic compound” described several hundred molecules found in edible plants that possess on their structure a benzenic ring substituted by, at least, one hydroxyl group. These compounds may be classified into different groups as a function of the number of phenol rings that they contain and of the structural elements that bind these rings to one another. Distinctions are thus made between phenolic acids (benzoic or hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives), flavonoids, stilbenes, and lignans. The flavonoids may themselves be divided into flavonols, flavones, isoflavones, flavanones, anthocyanidins, and flavanols (catechins and proanthocyanidins). In addition to this diversity, polyphenols may be associated with various carbohydrates and organic acids (Manach et al., 2004).

Traditionally, and from a basic knowledge, phenolic compounds have been considered nutritionally undesirable because they precipitate proteins, inhibit digestive enzymes and affect the utilization of vitamins and minerals, reducing the nutritional values of foods. However, the recent recognition of their antioxidant properties reduced the investigations of their adverse health effects. The presence of phenolic compounds on the diet is beneficial to health due to their chemopreventive activities against carcinogenesis and mutagenesis. The health effects of phenolic compounds depend on the amount consumed and on their bioavailability (Chung et al., 1998, Shen et al., 2007).

In addition to having nutritional and antioxidant properties, phenolic compounds influence multiple sensorial food properties, such as flavour, astringency, and colour. Phenolic compounds contribute to the aroma and taste of numerous food products of plant origin. The contribution of phenolic compounds to aroma is mainly due to the presence of volatile phenols. Volatile phenols could be produced by the hydrolysis of superior alcohols or by the metabolism of microorganisms, yeast and LAB. In addition, food phenolics also contribute to food astringency. Some phenolic substances, mostly tannins, present in foods are able to bring about a puckering and drying sensation referred to as astringency which is related to the ability of the substance to precipitate salivary proteins (Lea and Arnold, 1978). Moreover, phenolic compounds are natural food pigments that greatly influence the colour of vegetable food products. Among flavonoids, the anthocyanins are responsible for the pink, scarlet, red, mauve, blue and violet colours of vegetables, fruits, fruit juices and wine (Harborne, 1988). Most flavonoids are present in plant cells in the form of glycosides.

Fruits, vegetables and beverages, such as tea, are the main sources of phenolic compounds in the human diet (Dimitrios, 2006, Kapur and Kapoor, 2001). The Mediterranean diet includes fermented vegetable food products, such as wine and table olives, for which phenolic compounds are responsible of some of their sensorial and nutritional characteristics.

Section snippets

Lactic acid bacteria in fermented food products of plant origin

Vegetables are strongly recommended in the human diet since they are rich in antioxidant, vitamins, dietary fibres and minerals. The major part of the vegetables consumed in the human diet are fresh, minimally processed, pasteurized or cooked by boiling in water or microwaving. Minimally processed and, especially, fresh vegetables have a very short-life since subjected to rapid microbial spoilage and the above cooking processes would bring about a number of not always desirable changes in

L. plantarum

In spite that most vegetable fermentations are spontaneous, L. plantarum is the commercial starter most frequently used in the fermentation of vegetable food products. However, only a limited number of studies have been made to study the influence of phenolic compounds on the growth and viability of L. plantarum strains.

The role of quinate and shikimate in the metabolism of lactobacilli was studied by Whiting and Coggins (1969). They described that L. plantarum reduced quinate and shikimate

L. plantarum

L. plantarum is a LAB species that is most frequently encountered in the fermentation of plant materials where phenolic compounds are abundant. However, nowadays most of the metabolism of phenolic compounds remains unknown, as well as its induction or repression by the presence of different sugar sources (Muscariello et al., 2001).

As early as 1975, Whiting described that L. plantarum in anaerobic conditions reduce quinate to dihydroxycyclohexanecarboxylate and acetic acid (Table 2). This

Treatment of food by-products by lactic acid bacteria

Disposal of the waste generated by several food industries constitutes a serious environmental problem due to the presence of phenolic compounds that causes difficulties for their biological treatment (Arvanitoyannis and Kassaveti, 2007). There is a growing interest in the exploitation of these by-products in order to obtain high-added value compounds and to reduce the environmental problem (Arvanitoyannis et al., 2007, Lafka et al., 2007, Agalias et al., 2007, Brenes et al., 2004).There are

Conclusions

Some LAB species are adapted to growth in plant-derived food substrates where phenolic compounds are abundant. Most of the phenolic compounds studied exert an inhibitory effect on LAB growth. This inhibition activity seems to be related to alterations in cytoplasmic membranes and in the cell wall. Up to now, metabolisms of a limited number or phenolic compounds have been described on LAB. Therefore, there is a potential in further research in this field. The elucidation of these metabolic

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants AGL2005-00470, AGL2008-01052, Consolider INGENIO 2010 CSD2007-00063 FUN-C-FOOD (CICYT), RM2008-00002 (INIA), and S-0505/AGR/000153 (CAM). We are grateful to M. V. Santamaría and J. M. Barcenilla. We thank C. Ascaso, F. Pinto, and S. Paniagua for the transmission electron micrographs. H. Rodríguez and J. A. Curiel were recipients of predoctoral fellowships from the I3P-CSIC Program and FPI-MEC, respectively. J. M. Landete was a recipient of a postdoctoral

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