Fermented Foods For Management Of Chronic Diseases

In the present days the major part of World population are struggling with the issues of chronic diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, arthritis etc.

The root causes of these chronic diseases are the choice of poor lifestyle and food habits which are responsible for alternation in the ecosystem and the normal microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract (GI) tract and causes abnormalities in the functioning of metabolic and immune system of the host. Therefore it is important to maintain the stability of the probiotics in the GI tract, to stimulate their function in the body, to avoid the application of chemical additives in the food products for improving their shelf life and to optimize the processing method for reduction of the raw material associated anti-nutritional factors, to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases are the challenging issues and these can be easily achieved by increasing the ratio of fermented food in the daily diet.

Fermented foods are source of both nutritive and non-nutritive components as well as both functional and nonfunctional microorganism. These functional microorganisms are responsible for the specific functional properties of the fermented foods. They transform the chemical constituents of the raw materials during fermentation and enhance the bio-availability of nutrients in the food, its sensory properties, impart bio-preservative effects by producing antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds. The filamentous molds in fermented foods are responsible for the degradation of antinutritional factors in the food products and improve its safety level. Functional microorganisms in fermented foods fortify the food with different bioactive compounds and synthesize nutrients like vitamin K and most of the water-soluble Bvitamins, such as cobalamin, foliates, pyridoxine, riboflavin and thiamine which help in improving the immunity of the consumer against harmful diseases and helps in prevention of cardiovascular diseases, allergic reactions, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes etc.