Fermentation: Introduction, Process, Types, Advantages

Fermentation: Have you ever wondered how yeast helps make fermented foods or beverages? Do you know someone who loves fermented food or drinks? Of course, we all love fermented foods or beverages like cheese, sourdough, kimchi, vinegar, curd, kefir and many more. Have you heard of fermentation? If so, what are its various types and ingredients, and how does it occur without oxygen?

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Introduction

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Fermentation Process

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Types of Fermentation

• Alcohol Fermentation: In the case of alcohol fermentation, yeast is used to convert the pyruvate, an end product of glycolysis, into carbon dioxide, alcohol, and other metabolic byproducts. The first step removes a carboxyl group from pyruvate and releases it as carbon dioxide, creating the two-carbon compound acetaldehyde. The second phase involves NADH transferring its electrons to acetaldehyde to regenerate NAD⁺ and produce ethanol. Alcoholic fermentation results in the production of wine and beer.

• Lactic Acid Fermentation: NADH transfers its electrons to pyruvate directly, producing lactate as a byproduct in lactic acid fermentation. The product is known as lactate because lactate is simply lactic acid that has undergone deprotonation. The bacteria that make yoghurt and the red blood cells in our body, which lack mitochondria and cannot undertake cellular respiration, do lactic acid fermentation.

• Acetic Acid Fermentation: Another familiar fermentation process is acetic acid fermentation, in which grain and fruit starch and sugars ferment to produce vinegar and sauces with the help of yeast and bacteria. The yeast converts the sugar into alcohol, and then oxidation reactions turn ethanol into acetic acid. Acetic acid and acetaldehyde are produced as a result of these processes. So the first stage involves converting the ethanol previously created to acetaldehyde. NAD and NADP are necessary for the first phase to occur. Afterwards, acetaldehyde is transformed into acetic acid in the second phase.

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Advantages of Fermentation

• Source of Lactic Acid Bacteria: Most fermented foods provide bacteria that may have probiotic properties. It suggests that these bacteria enhance digestive health, balance out the bacteria in your stomach, and treat digestive difficulties.
• Increasing Nutritional Availability: When fermented, certain foods have greater health potential. It includes enhancing our body's absorption of the vitamins and minerals they supply. Certain natural substances, such as the phytic acid in legumes like soybeans, may prevent humans from absorbing vitamins and minerals like iron and zinc.
• Easier to Digest: Foods that have undergone fermentation are easier to digest because some natural sugars and starches have already been broken down. For instance, fermentation converts lactose from milk into the simpler sugars glucose and galactose.
• Healthy Bowel Movements and Digestion: Fermented foods may promote regular bowel movements and sound digestion.
• Application in Medicine: Synthesis of interferon, insulin, growth hormones, and antibiotics
• Utilisation in the Food Sector: Production of fermented foods, including cheese, wine, beer, and bread, into high-value goods and Food grade bio preservatives are applications in the food business.

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