Development of a novel probiotic milk product with enhanced antioxidant properties using mango peel as a fermentation substrate

Abstract

Abstract Mango peel is an agroindustrial waste with excellent nutritional value and a considerable content of bioactive compounds that can be used as a source of antioxidants. Additionally, biotransformation processes by kefir fermentation increase the interest in obtaining products from agroindustrial wastes with good biological properties. In this context, this work aimed to evaluate the effects of milk supplementation with mango peels on the growth rates of kefir microorganisms during fermentation as well as the antioxidant properties of the obtained fermented products. The results were comparatively evaluated between fermented samples in the presence of mango peels (KMP) and in their absence (KC). Significant increases (p ≤ 0.05) in antioxidant activities for KMP were observed for all methods, as follows: 113% for DPPH-radical scavenging (10 h of fermentation), 153% for the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay (8 h of fermentation), 21% for ABTS-radical scavenging (6 h of fermentation) and 43% for Total Reducing Capacity (Folin-Ciocalteu method) (8 h of fermentation) compared to those of KC fermented samples. According to microbiological analyses, the KMP samples allowed microbial growth of up to 3-fold higher than the growth of KC samples, reaching counts of up to 108 CFU/mL for lactic acid bacteria. According to the results, the products obtained from the fermentation process using milk combined with mango peels as the substrate presented improved antioxidant properties and a potential probiotic property.