IJSRST173415 | 10 May 2017 | Accepted: 18 May 2017 | May-June-2017 [(2)4: 141-148] © 2017 IJSRST | Volume 3 | Issue 4 | Print ISSN: 2395-6011 | Online ISSN: 2395-602X Themed Section: Science and Technology 141 A Review on the Role of Fermented Foods as Health Promoters Fatima Asghar, Sikander Ali * , Anum Goraya, Ifrah Javaid, Zahid Hussain Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (IIB), GC University Lahore, Pakistan *Corresponding author (Email: dr.sikanderali@gcu.edu.pk) ABSTRACT Food is a word that lures the taste buds. But when fermentation comes in between then it is not the case for taste only as the health gets involved too. Different microbial cultures are used in fermenting process that renders different tastes, different textures and even different characteristics to fermented foods. Fermented foods have been in use since prehistoric times. They are easily produced and commercially available as well. They not only have nutritional effect but have health promoting characteristics as well. Kefir, Soy, Cheese, Kimchi are some of the most notable fermented foods. Their consumption can modulate the immune system, prevent allergies, detoxify body and can battle pathogenic microorganism. They have been reported to lower cancers risk and lower the damaging cholesterol level. High cholesterol content is found to be associated with coronary diseases. Chemical medications to heal wounds leave certain side effects such as hyperpigmentation. Fermented foods can be used as an alternative in healing the wounds. Their role in increasing proper brain functioning (cognitive functions) is also significant. More research and analysis is required to understand the fermented foods well. Keywords : Immunomodulation, Kefir, Kimchi, Kombucha, LDL, Detoxification I. INTRODUCTION Fervere, a Latin term apparently is a small word but is of immense importance and has revolutionized the life. It means to ‘boil’. When Yeast was observed growing over malt extract as its substrate, boiling like appearance was noted. This boiling appearance was CO 2 bubbles produced as a result of now called term FERMENTATION (Patra et al., 2016). It was in actual anaerobic breakdown of malt via yeast that resulted in bubbling appearance. This process was then adopted for alcohol production (Kim et al., 2016; Patra et al., 2016). Time passed and people started using this process for bread and dough making leading to the establishment of fermented foods. That is food that is either obtained by a microbe or has been preserved using them. The science that lies behind it is the Fermentation and thus dates back to prehistoric times. Many advances have been made in it with the time man has been evolving (Marco et al., 2017). We have reached that point where fermented foods are considered to be a staple diet. From breakfast to dinner, each meal of ours consists of at least anything that is fermented (McGovern et al., 2004). Fermented foods have a mystery of their own that makes them complex and sometimes difficult to understand. They consist of different microbes and metabolites, each of which plays a role in the well-being of mankind (Stanton et al., 2005; Mackowiak, 2013). Not only fermentation enhances the nutritional value but is also used to preserve food. It is considered as the biological mean of preserving food. Because constituents of these foods includes ethanol, oils, organic acids and bacteriocins. All these are antimicrobial in nature. In this way spoilage of food is prevented as they will not microbes to colonize or grow. Foods texture and taste is preserved this way and there is also an increase in shelf life of food (Chilton et al., 2015). Each fermented food has characteristics of its own that is in some way beneficial to humans. In certain cases fermentation of foods becomes a necessity. Such as Olives have phenolic compounds that give them a bitter taste (Marco et al., 2017). To avoid this bitterness microbial way is used to get rid of these phenolic compounds. Similarly for preparing bread, good leavened dough is required. The leavening of dough is in