HLTH 340 Lecture 5: Fermented Foods and Beverages
5 Mar 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Describe some of the pathways to fermentation. How the process of fermentation is relevant to human health. The benefits and risks of consuming fermented products. List examples of fermented products from different regions around the globe. Conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids (i. e. ethyl alcohol, lactic acid, or other organic compounds) using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Often improves nutritional, preventative and therapeutic benefit compared to unfermented version. Transforms raw resources into value-added products, changing the role of the food in the cuisine. Fermentation : process by which pyruvic acid is metabolized in the absence of oxygen. Simplest pathway, pyruvic acid is converted directly to lactic acid. More common in yeasts, rare in bacteria. Co2 gas is released from pyruvic acid to form an intermediate acetaldehyde, which is quickly reduced to ethyl alcohol (etoh) Yeast used as leavening agent (saccharomyces cerevisiae) Fermentation creates carbon dioxide, causing bread to rise.
