Effects of Fermentation on the Nutritional Properties of Food

Abstract

Fermented foods, such as breads, cheeses, various soybean products, cassava, vegetables, and sausages, have made important contributions to human diets for thousands of years and continue to do so. Certainly the most significant role of fermentation in human nutrition has been to help make the nutrients naturally present in the starting food materials more palatable and more widely available than would be possible without fermentation. Thus, even if fermentations had no direct effect upon the nutrient content and quality of foods, these processes would be very important to the food supply. However, it is clear thatfermentation processes can have significant direct effects on the nutritive qualities of foods. It is the purpose of this chapter to review these direct nutritional consequences of fermentation and to consider some of the uncertainties and limitations of current data.