Development and optimization of enzyme-assisted extraction of isoflavones from soybeans followed by target microbial fermentation to produce the bioactive equol

• Grant number: 19/06870-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2019
• End date: December 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Nutrition - Nutrition Biochemistry
• Principal Investigator: Gabriela Alves Macedo
• Grantee: Lívia Dias de Queirós
• Supervisor: Juliana Maria Leite Nobrega de Moura Bell
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/20965-9 - Biotransformation of soy isoflavones to obtain enriched product in bioactive compounds and probiotic character, BP.DR

Abstract

Soybean is rich in isoflavones, a group of heterocyclic phenols associated with various beneficial effects on human health. Studies have shown that the health-promoting effects of isoflavones seem to depend on the individual's ability to convert isoflavones into equol, a metabolite of daidzein produced by the action of the intestinal microbiota. However, not all individuals are able to metabolize isoflavones to equol, and this conversion ability can vary, mainly due to the diversity of individual microbiota. Therefore, there is considerable interest in technological processes that are able to convert isoflavones into their bioactive forms, especially equol, thus producing soy-based products with improved health benefits. In this sense, our research group has been working on the development of biotechnological processes based on the soymilk fermentation by probiotic bacteria and/or enzymatic biotransformation. Preliminary results demonstrated that the proposed bioprocesses were able to increase bioactive isoflavones and equol contente in biotransformed soymilk, thus enhancing its antioxidant capacity and estrogenic activity, evaluated by cellular assays. The next key-step for this research project is to optimize of processing conditions and further scale-up the bioprocessing in order to establish the production of a soy-based product with significant quantities of equol in large-scale. The research group of Dr. de Moura Bell, at UC Davis, has extensive experience in scale extraction to convert food processing byproducts into high added value compounds. Therefore, for this research project, in collaboration with Dr. De Moura Bell, we propose to evaluate and to optimize the extraction of the bioactive isoflavones from soy extract and to scale-up the extraction stage as well as the soymilk fermentation for pilot scale in order to produce a biactive soy-based product with high equol content.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE QUEIROS, LIVIA DIAS; GONCALVES DIAS, FERNANDA FURLAN; ALVES DE AVILA, AMANDA REJANE; MACEDO, JULIANA ALVES; MACEDO, GABRIELA ALVES; LEITE NOBREGA DE MOURA BELL, JULIANA MARIA. ffects of enzyme-assisted extraction on the profile and bioaccessibility of isoflavones from soybean flou. Food Research International, v. 147, SEP 2021. (19/06870-3, 16/20965-9)