Improvement of Phytonutrients and Antioxidant Properties of Wheat Bran by Yeast Fermentation

Introduction: Utilizing nonedible part of food crop as functional food components has received more attention in recent years. Wheat bran is a reservoir of several health beneficial components. But due to the presence of non-starch polysaccharides in the cell wall, the bioavailability of phytonutrients will be very low. Our main objective is to understand the effect of fermentation by Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on Phytonutrients and antioxidant properties of wheat bran. Methods: The wheat bran is subjected to fermentation with Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) for 24h time period. Later the variations in the Phytonutrients and antioxidant properties of fermented wheat bran was analysed and compared with that of control. Results: It was found that the soluble, bound and total polyphenol content was increased by 48%, 21.5% and 34% respectively and flavonoid content was increased by 20%. Anti-nutritional compounds such as tannins were reduced by 35%. Due to enhancement of phytonutrients components such as polyphenols and flavonoids, the in-vitro total antioxidant capacity was also increased by 2 folds, whereas the free radical scavenging was enhanced by 56% compared to control samples. Conclusion: This findings shows that, with the aid of fermentation process modification in structural and functional properties of bran can be achieved and thus the bioprocessed bran can be used as the ingredient for functional food preparation. Keywords: Fermentation, polyphenols, flavonoids, tannin, free radical scavenging activity.