Abstract
The rice-starch processing industry produces large amounts of a protein-rich byproducts during the conversion of broken rice to powder and crystal starch. Given the poor protein solubility, this material is currently discarded or used as animal feed. To fully exploit rice’s nutritional properties and reduce this waste, a biotechnological approach was adopted, inducing fermentation with selected microorganisms capable of converting the substrate into peptide fractions with health-related bioactivity. Lactic acid bacteria were preferred to other microorganisms for their safety, efficient proteolytic system, and adaptability to different environments. Peptide fractions with different molecular weight ranges were recovered from the fermented substrate by means of cross-flow membrane filtration. The fractions displayed in vitro antioxidant, antihypertensive, and anti-tyrosinase activities as well as cell-based anti-inflammatory and anti-aging effects. In the future, the peptide fractions isolated from this rice byproduct could be directly exploited as health-promoting functional foods, dietary supplements, and pharmaceutical preparations. The suggested biotechnological process harnessing microbial bioconversion may represent a potential solution for many different protein-containing substrates currently treated as byproducts (or worse, waste) by the food industry.
Highlights
Rice is a staple food crop for about half of the world’s population
Lactic acid bacteria were preferred to other microorganisms for their safety, efficient proteolytic system, and adaptability to different environments
After separation by cross-flow membrane filtration, the peptide fractions were tested for bioactivity, in order to evaluate their potential as health-promoting ingredients in functional foods, dietary supplements, and pharmaceutical or cosmetic preparations
Summary
Rice is a staple food crop for about half of the world’s population. Industrial processing produces large amounts of broken kernels, which are mainly converted into powder and crystal starch. Ferri and coworkers produced, starting from this substrate, enzymatic hydrolysates with a broad spectrum of biological activities (antioxidant, anti-tyrosinase, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory) [6] These results are consistent with the results previously obtained on rice endosperm proteins [8,9,10,11], confirming the presence, in cereal storage proteins, of bioactive peptides with a potential role in the prevention of chronic diseases [12,13,14]. Over the past two decades, besides traditionally fermented dairy and cereal products such as Koji or sourdough bread, microbial fermentation has been applied to other food matrices as an effective way to generate peptides with different bioactive properties [15,16,17,18,19,20] After separation by cross-flow membrane filtration, the peptide fractions were tested for bioactivity (antioxidant, antihypertensive, anti-tyrosinase, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging properties), in order to evaluate their potential as health-promoting ingredients in functional foods, dietary supplements, and pharmaceutical or cosmetic preparations
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