Bioactive Compounds in Grain Fermentation: 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Cereal grains (e.g., rice, wheat, barley, rye, oats, maize, and sorghum) are consumed worldwide and constitute a wide variety of nutritionally valuable substances such as carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, dietary fiber, and minerals. Due to the presence of many functional bioactive compounds contributing to their health-promoting properties, including polyphenols, flavones, lignans, phytosterols, antioxidants, etc., grains have attained significant consideration in both the research and the industry community. Fermentation is one of the traditional, economical, and natural biological processing techniques that has been widely applied to improve the sensory properties and nutritional profile as well as economic value of cereal grains. Some of these bioactive compounds can be influenced through the fermentation process associated with microorganisms and digestive enzymes in the gut, i.e., producing some specific metabolites (γ-aminobutyric acid, exopolysaccharides, vitamins, bacteriocins, and β-glucan) and biocatalysts which act on the food substrate and release bioactive compounds. These transformed components produced via controlled fermentation can have a positive impact on the health of an individual, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetes, anticancer, and antihypertensive properties. Therefore, it is of great interest to investigate the fate of bioactive compounds in cereal grains in terms of their structural and biochemical modifications during fermentation in the gut either in vivo or in vitro, which is meaningful for the future development and commercialization of fermented grain-based food products with different health-promoting effects.

The goal of this Special Issue is to provide an up-to-date collection of relevant review papers and original research articles carried out on multidisciplinary topics concerning bioactive compounds in grain fermentation, comprising but not limited to the characterization of bioactive compounds in fermented grains and their interactions with microorganisms, as well as the impact of fermentation techniques and models on nutrients, antinutrients, and phytochemicals in cereal grains before and during digestion and absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. Review and research papers on cereal-grain-based fermented foods and nutraceuticals, and their health-promoting effects, as well as analytical, social, and sustainability aspects will also fall within the scope of this Special Issue.

Dr. Peng Wu
Guest Editor

Dr. Ni Wang
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cereal grains
• fermentation
• bioactive compounds
• digestion and absorption
• gastrointestinal tract
• polyphenols
• flavones
• antioxidants
• fermented food
• health benefits