Use of a Potential Probiotic, Lactobacillus casei L4, in the Preparation of Fermented Coconut Water Beverage

Abstract

Coconut water (CW) is a clear, nutritive liquid found as the coconut endosperm of green coconuts such as Cocos nucifera L., and its widespread consumption owes to its unique composition of sugars, minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and hormones. Probiotic fermentation of CW may facilitate the development of an improved functional beverage with probiotic benefits; therefore, we aimed to produce a fermented CW beverage using the potential probiotic Lactobacillus casei L4. CW was fermented with L. casei L4 for 48 h at 35°C, and the pH, organic acid-production rate, antioxidant activity, antibacterial activity, sugar, mineral, vitamin B12 levels, and total viable bacteria counts were investigated at 24 and 48 h. We demonstrated that the fermentation of CW with probiotic lactobacilli increased the cell viability count. Vitamin B12 production was highest in the extracellular environment at 48 h (11.47 μg/mL), while the total phenolic content was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the fermented CW at 48 h (72.1 μg/mL gallic acid equivalents) than observed with the other investigated groups or time points. The fermented materials exhibited the highest 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical-scavenging activities at 48 h (58.4 and 69.2%, respectively). The levels of most minerals remained unchanged in the fermented CW, except for calcium, manganese, phosphorus, and sodium. Furthermore, the culture supernatant from fermented CW inhibited the growth of foodborne pathogens such as Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella typhi, although the degree of inhibition varied between the species. Moreover, adding 15% honey and artificial coconut flavor to the fermented CW resulted in a better-tasting product, as demonstrated by a sensory-evaluation test. The obtained results indicated that the CW product fermented by L. casei L4 may be used as a novel functional beverage containing both electrolytes and probiotics, and can serve as a good vehicle for preparing a wider range of novel products.

Development of a Dairy-Free Fermented Oat-Based Beverage With Enhanced Probiotic and Bioactive Properties

“…The change of sugar and acids will contribute to the flavor and taste of the final product. Similar changes of sugar and organic acids were also observed in other lactic acid bacteria fermented products, such as fermented apple juice and coconut water beverage (Giri et al, 2018;Li et al, 2018). Similar to these studies, we also observed a substantial amount of residual glucose and fructose (>50%) in the fermented products, even after 3 days of fermentation.…”

“…Moreover, a further decrease of glucose and an increase of lactic and acetic acids were observed in our product during storage at 4°C, which implies that there was ongoing metabolic activity of the Lactobacillus PC1 strain. Some studies indicated that the presence of residual sugars can assist in the continuous metabolic activity of the probiotics in fermented foods (Camargo Prado et al, 2015;Giri et al, 2018) and enhance the survival of Lactobacilli in acidic environments (Corcoran et al, 2005). This is consistent with the stable viability of the PC1 strain during storage and in simulated gastrointestinal conditions.…”

Strategies to Improve the Potential Functionality of Fruit-Based Fermented Beverages

“…Santos et al [108] tested the capability of this bacterium to ferment melon juice and obtained a 5-to 10-fold increase in folate amount. As for vitamin B12, it significantly increased from 0.28 to 11.47 mg/100 mL during fermentation of coconut water [109]. However, a decrease of vitamin C throughout the fermentation was observed in a fermented strawberry beverage (from 75.5 mg/100 g fruit to 34 mg/100 mL in strawberry wine) [110], as well as in fermented wax apple juice (from 4.97 mg/100 g to 3.81 mg/100 mL) [61] and fermented pineapple juice (4.52 mg/100 g to 2.95 mg/100 mL) [111].…”

Ready to Use Therapeutical Beverages: Focus on Functional Beverages Containing Probiotics, Prebiotics and Synbiotics

“…There are traditional non-dairy fermented drinks that are usually produced using fruit or vegetable juice as a main ingredient with many different health-beneficial effects [113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129].…”