Chitooligosaccharides as novel ingredients of fermented foods

Abstract

Chitooligosaccharides (COSs) have been clinically evaluated for their immunostimulating effects after oral intake. Similar to dietary supplements, prebiotics and biopreservatives, these water-soluble bioactives are easily incorporated into dairy products and beverages. Notwithstanding, the use of COS in fermented foods would be limited by its antimicrobial properties. In order to study the interaction with yoghurts as a model of fermented food, the effects of COS on chemical composition, viability, morphology and metabolism of lactic acid bacteria, fatty acid profiles and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) were assessed over 28 days and after chemical digestion. There were no significant differences between the nutritional composition of controls and yoghurts supplemented with concentrations up to 0.1% w/w of COS. However, the acidification of milk decreased at 0.5% (p < 0.05) and the formation of yoghurt failed at 3.0%, without affecting viable counts. Lipid hydrolysis of yoghurts supplemented with 0.1% COS was not affected by chemical digestion. No significant differences were found between CLA percentages of controls and supplemented yoghurts after digestion. Although the nutritional composition, fatty acids and viable counts were not significantly modified after COS supplementation, the present study shows that COS diminishes bacterial acidification at concentrations higher than 0.1%, thus limiting the amounts that could be added to yoghurt.

Mechanochemical Amorphization of α-Chitin and Conversion into Oligomers of N-Acetyl-d-glucosamine

“…The use of milling reported above complements the work that has already been performed by others on the effect of microwave, ultrasound, steam explosion, and γ radiation on chitin hydrolysis. 46 Chitin's oligosaccharides have recently shown promising potential as novel ingredients of fermented foods 47 providing an added value application for the products of a relatively short mechanochemical process which avoids solvents and concentrated acids. Furthermore, we have developed and applied a fast and easy method to quantify water-soluble oligomers of chitin, and we envision that this derivatization-MALDI-ToF MS method could be used for quantitation in other polysaccharide and biomass transformations.…”

Chitinase-Assisted Bioconversion of Chitinous Waste for Development of Value-Added Chito-Oligosaccharides Products

“…Bulgaricus, COS (MW 2.7 kDa, DD 68%) can be incorporated into the fermentation at a maximum concentration of 0.1% w/w and provided good sensory acceptance of the yoghurts. Higher concentrations cause metabolic alterations in lactic acid bacteria, and the yoghurt product does not fulfill the standards defined for yoghurt by the Codex Alimentarius [117]. The ability of COSs (2 or 3 kDa, DD 70%) to prevent the formation of staling compounds, including 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, trans-2-nonenal, and phenylacetaldehyde, in beer is reported at 0.001-0.01%.…”

Chitosan as Source for Pesticide Formulations

“…The molecular mass was estimated by using Mark-Houwink-Kuhn-Sakurada's equation [11]. The sample contained 13.3% moisture and 2.60% ash content [12].…”