Lactic acid fermentation as a tool for increasing the folate content of foods

ABSTRACT

Folate is an essential micronutrient involved in numerous vital biological reactions. The dietary consumption of naturally occurring vitamin B9 is often inadequate in many countries, and supplementation or fortification programs (using synthetic folic acid) are implemented to alleviate folate deficiency. Other food-based alternatives are possible, such as the use of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to synthesize folate during fermentation. Many studies have been conducted on this topic, and promising results were reported for some fermented dairy products. However, in other studies, folate consumption by LAB or rather low folate production were observed, resulting in fermented foods that may not significantly contribute to the recommended B9 intake. In addition, the optimum conditions for folate biosynthesis by LAB are still not clear. The aim of this review was thus to (i) clarify the ability of LAB to produce folate in food products, (ii) check if the production of folate by LAB in various fermented foods is sufficient to meet human vitamin B9 requirements and (iii) suggest ways to optimize folate production by LAB in fermented food products.

KEYWORDS:

• Bioaccessibility
• vitamin B9
• vitamer
• cereal
• Lactobacillus
• yeasts
• stability
• process
• strain
• biosynthesis

Funding

Fabien Saubade acknowledges a PhD grant from the French Ministry of Education and Research. This work was carried out in the framework of the FolEA project, which is part of the ERA-Net « Developing African-European joint collaboration for Science and Technology » (ERAfrica), financially supported by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme.