Overview of fermentation process: structure-function relationship on protein quality and non-nutritive compounds of plant-based proteins and carbohydrates

Abstract

Demands for high nutritional value-added food products and plant-based proteins have increased over the last decade, in line with the growth of the human population and consumer health awareness. The quality of the plant-based proteins depends on their digestibility, amino acid content, and residues of non-nutritive compounds, such as phenolic compounds, anti-nutritional compounds, antioxidants, and saponins. The presence of these non-nutritive compounds could have detrimental effects on the quality of the proteins. One of the solutions to address these shortcomings of plant-based proteins is fermentation, whereby enzymes that present naturally in microorganisms used during fermentation are responsible for the cleavage of the bonds between proteins and non-nutritive compounds. This mechanism has pronounced effects on the non-nutritive compounds, resulting in the enhancement of protein digestibility and functional properties of plant-based proteins. We assert that the types of plant-based proteins and microorganisms used during fermentation must be carefully addressed to truly enhance the quality, functional properties, and health functionalities of plant-based proteins.

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Keywords:

• Digestibility
• fermentation
• non-nutritive compounds
• plant-based proteins
• protein quality

Acknowledgements

We express our thanks to the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Jordan University of Science and Technology. In addition, we gratefully acknowledge and are indebted to the anonymous referees for comments and constructive suggestions provided for improving the manuscript.

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Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

On behalf of all the authors,

Mohammad Alrosan*

Corresponding author*

Additional information

Funding

This study is part of an ongoing project (FRGS/1/2019/STG01/USM/02/8) which is financially supported by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), awarded by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education.