Supriya Sharma, Anu Behari, Ratnakar Shukla, Mukteshwar Dasari, and Vinay K. Kapoor. Ann Hepatobiliary Pancreat Surg 2020;24:469-76. https://doi.org/10.14701/ahbps.2020.24.4.469

Biliary dysbiosis is associated with gallbladder cancer (GBC). We aimed to look for biliary bacteria specifically detected in GBC patients. We used 16S rRNA-based metagenomic analysis to elucidate biliary microbiota in 30 GBC and 30 gallstones-associated chronic cholecystitis patients. Relative abundance of five genera, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Halomonas, Escherichia and Caulobacter was significantly associated with GBC. Of 15-species, 7 were detected significantly higher in GBC, Streptococcus anginosus, Streptococcus constellatus, Streptococcus intermedius, Actinomyces bowdenii, Actinomyces israelii, Actinomyces gerencseriae, and Escherichia fergusonii were biosafety level-2 infectious bacteria; other 8 species were biosafety level-1 bacteria. These bacterial species may be involved in pathogenesis of GBC.

Kefir is a naturally fermented milk drink with rich probiotic content. This study aimed to develop and optimize homemade cow milk kefir (HCMK) and evaluate its microbial, chemical, nutritional, and antioxidant properties. HCMK was optimized using response surface methodology, where the independent variables were kefir grain inoculum (2–4%) and fermentation time (20 h–28 h), and the dependent variables were total bacterial count, pH, and overall acceptability. HCMK was prepared using 3% w/v Indian kefir grains inoculated into cow milk and fermented at 25 °C for 24 h. Optimized dependent variables were 2.08 × 10⁸ ± 0.34 CFU/mL, pH 4.52 ± 0.05, and overall acceptability of 6.55 ± 0.21. Nutritional analysis revealed protein 3.6 g/100 mL, carbohydrates 2.66 g/100mL, fat 3.4 g/100 mL, iron 2.99 mg/100 mL, and calcium 29.3 mg/100 mL. Antioxidant profiling elucidated 54% radical scavenging activity and 18 mgGAE/100 mL total phenolic content. GC-MS revealed the presence of bioactive compounds with documented antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. This study highlights HCMK as a healthy probiotic functional food with significant antioxidant potential.

Water kefir is a vegan fermented probiotic-rich beverage that has potential health benefits include improving digestive health and preventing chronic disorders like obesity, gastrointestinal disorders, hyperlipidaemia and hypertension. This study aims to formulate the water kefir fermented drink, using 3 different concentrations of water kefir grains (Sample A- 2%, Sample B-4% and Sample C-6%) and examine the microbial and chemical properties of the all three samples. The physiochemical (pH, titratable acidity, water activity and total soluble solids) and microbial (total bacterial and yeast) counts were estimated using AOAC methods. The DPPH antioxidant potential and total phenolic content were assessed using UV spectroscopy method. The sensory analysis of the water kefir samples was examined using 9-point hedonic scale. The chemical, microbial antioxidant and sensory analysis revealed that the sample C was more desirable in all the aspects as compared to sample A and B with pH: 3.8±0.01; titratable acidity (TA): 0.041±0.001 meq/mL and water activity: 0.947±0.003 Aw. The TBC, DPPH percentage and phenolic compound of sample C was found to be 2.91 × 10⁷ CFU/mL, 28.74 ± 0.05 and 14.86±0.45g/100 GAE, respectively. The overall acceptability score of sample C was 7.00±0.18. In conclusion, 6% kefir grains concentration were optimum for production of water kefir drink which have higher antioxidant and bacterial count. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the fermentation process that influence the quality and potential health benefits of water kefir drink.

Kefir produced by microbial activity of ‘kefir grains’ is a fermented beverage with renowned probiotics and is also associated with a wide array of nutraceutical benefits. Basil seed gum (Ocimum basilicum L.) is a non-digestible fibre that is classified as a prebiotic and offers great potential for use as an emulsifying, foaming, gelling, binding and fat replacement agent in food. The optimisation of the synbiotic drink (SD) formulation was performed using response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with central composite design. The effects of kefir grains inoculum (2%-4% w/v) and basil seed (0.2%-0.4% w/v) were analysed on pH, total bacterial load (CFU/mL), and overall acceptability (9-point hedonic scale). Nutritional and physiochemical analyses of optimized SD were performed according to AOAC International methods. The most optimized combination of variables for the preparation of SD was 3% kefir grains inoculum and 0.3% basil seed gum addition. The optimized formulation attained 5.3 pH level, 5.32 × 10y CFU/mL, and 7.7 overall acceptability. The RSM analysis indicated a good correlation between experimental and predicted values. During the nutrient analysis, optimised SD had crude protein 3.6g/100mL, carbohydrates 5.3g/100mL and crude fat 1.1g/100mL. The optimized SD product attained a good pH range, CFU count, overall acceptability, and nutritional properties. Thus, this study shows that novel SD has the potential for industrial exploitation as refreshing and nutritious fermented drink. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the development of SD with a combination of kefir and basil seeds.