Microbial Enzymes for Production of Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals

Abstract

Enzymes are biocatalysts well known to catalyse several chemical reactions with selectivity and specificity. They are known to perform catalytic reactions under mild reaction conditions with high catalytic efficiency, without compromising the specificity towards the substrate on which they are acting. Applications of enzymes in several fields including health, food, environment, bioremediation, biotransformation, and detergent formulations have been reported. In recent years the microbial enzymes have attracted researchers using them for the production of functional foods and nutraceuticals, as they are cheaper, easier, and safer. Although enzymes from plant or animal sources are used in food industries, most of these enzymes are derived from microbes. Enzymatic biotransformation processes have been recommended for mining novel nutraceuticals and the production of several bioactive molecules used in functional foods. The bioactive molecules formed in functional foods as a result of enzymatic biotransformation have unique properties like scavenging of free radicals, immunomodulatory potential, and antidiabetic and anticancer activities. This chapter gives an overview of enzymes used in functional foods and recent developments in the production of enzymes, the recovery of enzymes used in the food industry, the engineering of enzymes for functional foods, and the application of enzymes for production/biotransformation of nutraceuticals.