Dados do Trabalho

Título

POTENTIAL SYNBIOTIC OF FERMENTED ACEROLA (Malpighia emarginata D.C.) AND GUAVA (Psidium guayaba L.) BY-PRODUCTS ON THE FECAL MICROBIOTA OF HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS

Introdução

Acerola and guava are among the most popular tropical fruits cultivated in Brazil. The fruit processing by-products consist mainly of peels, seeds, and the remaining part of the pulp, representing a natural source of several phenolic compounds and dietary fiber. Reusing these by-products represents a relevant strategy for the circular economy linked to the agro-food sector. Lactobacillus species are widely used as probiotics and linked to improvements in intestinal microbiota and satisfactory fermentative abilities. This study evaluated the effects of acerola and guava fruit processing by-products fermented with probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-05 and Lacticaseibacillus paracasei L-10 on the fecal microbiota of healthy individuals.

Material e Métodos

The by-products were fermented singly with probiotic strains during 20 h, to form AL10, ALA5, GL10, and GLA5. Fermented fruit by-products were subjected to simulated gastrointestinal digestion to evaluate changes in the human fecal microbiota using the fluorescence in situ hybridization technique coupled with multiparametric flow cytometry, and microbial metabolic activity (pH values, sugar and organic acid content) during 48 h of fecal fermentation.

Resultados e Discussão

Digested fermented by-products increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacterial groups (Lactobacillus spp./Enterococcus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., and Ruminococcus albus/R. flavefaciens) while overall decreasing or maintaining the relative abundance of non-beneficial bacterial groups (Bacteroides spp./Prevotella spp., Clostridium histolyticum, and Eubacterium rectale/C. coccoides), suggesting selective stimulatory effects on beneficial bacterial intestinal populations. The fermented by-products stimulated intense microbial metabolic activity due to decreased pH, sugar consumption (glucose, fructose, maltose, and rhamnose), and lactic and short-chain fatty acids production (acetic, propionic, and butyric acids), indicating the presence of compounds capable of reaching the colon to be used by the intestinal microbiota.

Conclusão

Acerola and guava co-products have high nutritional value and bioactive compounds whose fermentation with probiotics improves their potential functionalities. The elaboration of fermented fruit co-products may prove to be a potential strategy to increase their use and valorization as novel functionalized synbiotic circular ingredients with low cost and to develop value-added foods and dietary supplements of non-dairy origin to meet the demands of different consumers.