Yeasts originating from fermented foods, their potential as probiotics and therapeutic implication for human health and disease

Abstract

Yeasts derived from fermented foods have historically been known for their organoleptic properties, enriching nutritional values, and producing bioactive metabolites with therapeutic potential. In this review, we discuss the yeast flora in fermented foods, their functional aspects in fermentation, as well as their probiotic and biotherapeutic properties. These yeasts have numerous physical and biochemical characteristics, such as larger cells as compared to bacteria, a rigid cell wall composed primarily of glucans and mannans, natural resistance to antibiotics, and the secretion of secondary metabolites that are both pleasing to the consumer and beneficial to the host’s health and well-being. The review also focused on therapeutic applications of probiotic yeasts derived from fermented foods on infections associated with Candida species. These potential probiotic yeasts present an additional avenue to treat dysbiosis of the gut microbiota and prevent health complications that arise from opportunistic fungal colonization, especially drug-resistant superbugs, which are highlighted in this review.

Keywords:

• Anti-Candida metabolites
• Candida albicans
• Non-albicans Candida species
  
• non-Saccharomyces probiotics
• probiotic host-associated functionality
• yeast flora in fermented foods

Acknowledgements

We thank the Director, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), for encouragement and research support.

Disclosure statements

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work is partially supported by NIH-NCCIH 1R15AT009926-01 grant to RPR.