African Fermented Foods and Probiotics

International Journal of Food Microbiology 190 (2014) 84–96 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Food Microbiology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfoodmicro African fermented foods and probiotics Charles M.A.P. Franz a,⁎,MelanieHucha, Julius Maina Mathara b,HikmateAbriouelc, Nabil Benomar c, Gregor Reid d, Antonio Galvez c, Wilhelm H. Holzapfel e a Max Rubner-Institute, Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food, Department of Safety and Quality of Fruit and Vegetables, Haid-und-Neu-Str.9, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany b Department of Food Science and Technology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O. Box 62000, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya c Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Área de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain d Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University, London, Ontario, Canada e Handong Global University, School of Life Sciences, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 791-708, Republic of Korea article info abstract Article history: Africa has an age old history of production of traditional fermented foods and is perhaps the continent with the Received 15 April 2014 richest variety of lactic acid fermented foods. These foods have a large impact on the nutrition, health and socio- Received in revised form 25 June 2014 economy of the people of the continent, often plagued by war, drought, famine and disease. Sub-Saharan Africa is Accepted 23 August 2014 the world's region with the highest percentage of chronically malnourished people and high child mortality. Available online 30 August 2014 Further developing of traditional fermented foods with added probiotic health features would be an important Keywords: contribution towards reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals of eradication of poverty and hunger, re- fi African traditional foods duction in child mortality rates and improvement of maternal health. Speci c probiotic strains with documented Probiotics health benefits are sparsely available in Africa and not affordable to the majority of the population. Furthermore, Fermentation they are not used in food fermentations. If such probiotic products could be developed especially for household Malnutrition food preparation, such as cereal or milk foods, it could make a profound impact on the health and well-being of GI infection adults and children. Suitable strains need to be chosen and efforts are needed to produce strains to make products which will be available for clinical studies. This can gauge the impact of probiotics on consumers' nutrition and health, and increase the number of people who can benefit. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction...............................................................85 1.1. Probiotics, definitionandsuggestedhealth-improvingproperties....................................85 1.2. Aglobalperspectiveontheuseofprobiotics.............................................85 1.3. WhyAfricaneedsprobiotics....................................................86 2. AnoverviewofAfricanfermentedfoods..................................................86 2.1. Non-alcoholiccerealandvegetablefermentations...........................................87 2.1.1. ExamplesofAfricanfermentedmaizeproducts........................................87 2.1.2. Examplesoffermentedsorghum..............................................88 2.1.3. Examplesoffermentedmillet...............................................88 2.2. Starchyrootcropfermentations...................................................88 2.3. Animalproteinfermentations....................................................88 3. ChoiceofmultifunctionalstrainsforAfricanprobiotics............................................89 3.1. ThesearchforpotentialprobioticstrainstosupplementAfricanfermentedfoods............................91 3.2. InterventionstudieswithAfricanpotentialprobiotics.........................................92 4. Furtherperspectives...........................................................92 5. Recommendationsandresearchneeds...................................................93 5.1. Choiceofmultifunctionalstrains..................................................93 5.2. Choiceofproductforprobioticdelivery...............................................93 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Safety and Quality of Fruit and Vegetables, Max Rubner-Institut, Haid-und-Neu-Str. 9, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany. Tel.: +49 721 6625 225; fax: +49 721 6625 453. E-mail address: [email protected] (C.M.A.P. Franz). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2014.08.033 0168-1605/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. C.M.A.P. Franz et al. / International Journal of Food Microbiology 190 (2014) 84–96 85 5.3. Improvingresearchinfrastructure.................................................. 93 Acknowledgments.............................................................. 93 References.................................................................. 93 1. Introduction scenario with its high infant/child mortality, there is also good evidence from meta-analysis of intervention studies, that probiotics can prevent 1.1. Probiotics, definition and suggested health-improving properties necrotizing enterocolitis, prevent infant sepsis and decrease mortality in pre-term neonates with low birth weight (Deshpande et al., 2010; Kollath (1953) and Vergio (1954) were probably the first to intro- Bernardo et al., 2013). duce the term probiotic (Holzapfel and Schillinger, 2002), while a beneficial association of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with the human 1.2. A global perspective on the use of probiotics host was already suggested in Biblical times and by Metchnikoff (1908). The latter considered the longevity of Bulgarian peasants to In the Western dietary culture, it is common to ferment milk into yo- be related to their high intake of fermented milk products, as he con- gurt, sour milk or cheese. This long-held custom of fermenting milk ex- sidered gut microbes detrimental rather than beneficial to human plains the high prevalence of probiotic products delivered as fermented health (Metchnikoff, 1908). While documentation of said longevity milk, particularly sour milk and yogurt in Europe. It is noteworthy, how- is scant, recent large studies in Scandinavia support at least the abil- ever, that industries in the developed world are creating other delivery ity of regular intake of fermented foods to reduce the incidence of se- vehicles for probiotics, including cheese, whey dairy products, desserts, rious disease (Larsson et al., 2008; Keszei et al., 2010; Sonestedt ice cream, breads, confectionary and soy products as well as meats and et al., 2011). In this context the LAB and their production of lactic fermented vegetables (Gardiner et al., 1998; Ravula and Shah, 1998; acid as a result of sugar metabolism were suggested to be health- Stanton et al., 1998; Hagen and Narvhus, 1999; Lee et al., 1999; Shah promoting agents. Originally definedasmicroorganismspromoting and Ravula, 2000; Haynes and Playne, 2002; Ross et al., 2002; the growth of other microbes (Vergio, 1954; Lilly and Stillwell, Työppönen et al., 2003; Medici et al., 2004; Alamprese et al., 2005; 1965), probiotics have been re-defined a number of times. In 1989, Donkor et al., 2005; Madureira et al., 2005; Kröckel, 2006; Ong et al., Fuller referred to the animal host when he defined a probiotic as ‘a 2006; Wang et al., 2006; Alagron-Alegro et al., 2007; Nebesny et al., live microbial feed supplement which beneficially affects the host 2007; Bernardez et al., 2008; Burns et al., 2008; De Vuyst et al., 2008; animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance’ (Fuller, 1989). Sharp et al., 2008; Cruz et al., 2009; Mäkeläinen et al., 2009; Zollner Havenaar et al. (1992) defined probiotics as ‘mono-ormixedcul- et al., 2009; De Bellis et al., 2010; Gawkowski and Chikindas, 2013). tures of live microorganisms which, when applied to animal or The world market for ‘functional foods’, i.e. foods which contain ingredi- man, beneficially affect the host by improving the property of the ents that optimize beneficial properties such as probiotics, prebiotics, indigenous flora’, while in relation to food, probiotics were consid- vitamins and minerals, had an estimated size in 2003 of ca. 33 billion ered as ‘viable preparations in foods or dietary supplements to im- USD, while the European market estimation exceeded 2 billion USD in prove the health of humans and animals’ (Salminen et al., 1998). the same year. This rose in 2005, to 50 billion USD for functional The German Federal Institute for Health and Consumer Protection foods. In western Europe, the consumer market for probiotic foods and Veterinary Medicine (currently the Federal Institute for Risk As- was N1.4 billion euros (Saxelin, 2008). Probiotics and prebiotics account sessment) defined probiotics as ‘specificlivemicroorganismswhich for the most important fraction of the overall market for functional reach the intestinal tract in active form and in sufficient numbers to foods (Figueroa-González et al., 2011), and the world probiotic market positively affect the health of the host’ (Franz et al., 2011a). Current- share has risen to an estimated 15 billion USD (Bhadoria and ly the most common definition is that from the FAO/WHO which Mahapatra, 2011). states that probiotics are ‘live microorganisms which when adminis- In Europe, the largest segments of the functional food markets are tered in adequate amounts confer a health benefitonthehost’

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