Abstract
An increase in the number of novel fortified kefir-based beverages was observed in the last decades. Vegetables were often proposed as convenient resources of bioactive molecules able to improve nutraceutical benefits of these drinks and/or to confer them new significant features. These findings have been well accepted by the consumers, which generally reserve an important role to the quality of the assumed food and beverages. Specifically, functional fermented milk-based drinks enriched with vegetable extracts display significant biological properties, due to the presence of bioactive compounds exhibiting antimicrobial and antioxidant features. In addition, agro-industrial wastes have been also proposed as innovative resources of secondary metabolites to enrich kefir-based products. Eco-friendly extraction techniques were generally exploited to achieve the isolation of biomolecules and reducing, at the same time, economic and environmental loads. To this regard, this review deeply investigates the main findings to improve kefir bioactive properties by functional enrichment with plant and agro-food waste extracts. The nutraceutical characteristics related to the consumers’ health benefits, as well as their effects on the sensorial, chemical, and microbiological properties of the products were evaluated.
Highlights
Kefir is an ancient fermented milk drink originating from the Caucasus, showing a creamy consistency and an acidic taste
The α-amylase inhibitory activity decreased to zero with fermentation time, the latter seeming the most important parameter affecting the ACE enzyme activity, irrespective of tyrosol and salidroside concentration. These results indicated that kefir culture-mediated fermentation of soymilk supplemented with Rhodiola extracts could be proposed as a functional product for the prevention of hyperglycemia that occurs in prediabetes and diabetes type 2
This review analyzed the different strategies proposed in order to obtain functional kefir beverages able to produce significant health benefits to the consumers
Summary
Kefir is an ancient fermented milk drink originating from the Caucasus, showing a creamy consistency and an acidic taste (pH 4.6). In order to improve nutraceutical benefits of kefir, an appropriate approach could involve the enrichment with suitable components able to confer to the drink specific and valuable properties [8,9]. To this regard, the employment of plant, soy-derived, and agro-food waste extracts, as well as juices, honey [10], and fibers represents a hedonistic way to achieve convenient functional beverages [11,12]. Agro-industrial wastes will be evaluated as a precious source of secondary metabolites that, properly added to kefir beverages, allow the achieving of fortified drinks, at the same time, overcoming the environmental and economic problems usually associated with their disposal
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