IJFANS International Journal of Food and Nutritional Sciences

ISSN PRINT 2319 1775 Online 2320-7876

Indian Fermented Foods: A source of bacteria with probiotic attributes

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Bakul Singh, Parul, Deepak Chand Sharma and Ashima Vohra

Abstract

An unbalance can occur in gut microflora because of indiscriminate antibiotic use, alterations in diet and under the influence of stress, thereby damaging human health. This balance can be restored by using appropriate probiotics. Probiotics are live microbial cells which confer health benefits to host when given in adequate amounts. Fermented foods are known to harbor microbes with probiotic properties. To explore the diversity of potential probiotic bacteria in Indian fermented foods. Isolation of bacteria was done on MRS agar, followed by evaluation of properties such as acid tolerance, bile salt tolerance, hemolysis on blood agar and effect on survival of nematodes. Preliminary identification of the isolates was done using morphological and biochemical characteristics. In the present investigation, 32 bacterial strains were isolated from Indian fermented foods such as butter, dhokla dough, curd, butter milk, cheese, bread dough, dosa batter, jalebi batter and bhatura dough. Out of these isolates, 12 could survive in the environment analogous to the human gut, such as low pH (2.5) and bile salts (2%) resistance. Among them six bacterial isolates did not exhibit hemolysis on blood agar plate thereby indicating their safe usage. Further these isolates were supplemented in the growth medium of Caenorhabditis elegans to evaluate their effect on the survival of the nematode. Two bacterial isolates among six tested enhanced the survival of C. elegans significantly. The preliminary identification revealed hat the isolated bacteria may belong to the class of lactic acid bacteria. Our findings indicate the presence of lactic acid bacteria in these fermented foods with potential probiotic properties such as tolerance to low pH, bile salt, absence of hemolysis, improving the lifespan and reproduction of C. elegans. Thus these isolated cultures could be promising probiotic candidates.

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