Search

Probiotic foods such as kefir drinks help to improve the health and well-being of consumers. Since Salmonella resistance to current antibiotic drugs is rising at an alarming rate worldwide, especially in Africa and Asia, this has raised the need for alternative ways of preventing and treating infectious diseases in humans and animals. Thus, a dairy-free probiotic drink can be an alternative for people with milk allergies or for those who avoid dairy products as a lifestyle choice. This study aims to optimize the quality of the coconut milk kefir drink for its antioxidant and antimicrobial activities and to identify the peptides and metabolites present. The time, temperature, and inoculum size that resulted in the optimal antioxidant and antimicrobial activities using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) were found to be 13.4 h, 25 °C, and 5.4 g/100 mL, respectively. The metabolic changes of coconut milk kefir at the beginning and end of fermentation were identified using 1H-NMR-based metabolomics. Some of the metabolites that were identified in the optimized product are γ-Aminobutyric acid, Biotin, Riboflavin, Butyrate, Lactate, and Caprylate. Moreover, 10 peptide sequences were identified using LC-MS/MS. The findings of this study demonstrated a high potential for coconut milk fermented using kefir grains as a functional healthy drink.

L. plantarum strains displayed different abilities to exhibit high survivability to acid (pH 3.0), bile salts (3%), enzyme (pepsin), and temperature (40 °C) and good antibiotic susceptibility. The isolates were further supplemented in traditional tapai pulut to study the immunomodulation properties of tapai pulut based on the splenic T- and B-cell populations. The mice groups were divided into group one (unfermented glutinous rice), group two (tapai pulut group), and group three (probiotic tapai pulut group). Group one showed consistent body weight gain, with the highest observed after four weeks. Group three exhibited the most significant reduction in the percentage of CD19+ B-cells. The CD3+ T-cells population of Group three increased significantly compared with the control mice, followed by Group two. The results suggest that traditional tapai pulut supplemented with L. plantarum has a high potential for supporting the immune system’s immunomodulatory effect.