Health benefits and risks of fermented foods-the PIMENTO initiative

Smilja Todorovic¹, Asli Akpinar², Ricardo Assunção³, Cornelia Bär⁴, Simona L Bavaro⁵, Muzeyyen Berkel Kasikci^{2

6}, Julieta Domínguez-Soberanes⁷, Vittorio Capozzi⁸, Paul D Cotter⁹, Eun-Hee Doo¹⁰, Burcu Gündüz Ergün¹¹, Mustafa Guzel¹², Hayriye S Harsa¹³, Emre Hastaoglu¹⁴, Christèle Humblot¹⁵, Bahtir Hyseni¹⁶, Muge I Hosoglu¹⁷, Aline Issa¹⁸, Barçın Karakaş-Budak¹⁹, Sibel Karakaya²⁰, Harun Kesenkas²¹, Erhan Keyvan²², Ibrahim E Künili²³, Mary-Liis Kütt²⁴, Marta Laranjo²⁵, Sandrine Louis²⁶, Fani T Mantzouridou²⁷, Antonia Matalas²⁸, Baltasar Mayo²⁹, Sandra Mojsova³⁰, Arghya Mukherjee⁹, Anastasios Nikolaou³¹, Fatih Ortakci³², Diana Paveljšek³³, Giancarlo Perrone³⁴, Eugenia Pertziger^{35

36}, Dushica Santa³⁷, Taner Sar³⁸, Isabelle Savary-Auzeloux³⁹, Clarissa Schwab⁴⁰, Małgorzata Starowicz⁴¹, Marko Stojanović⁴², Michail Syrpas⁴³, Jyoti P Tamang⁴⁴, Oktay Yerlikaya²¹, Birsen Yilmaz^{45

46}, Jeadran Malagon-Rojas⁴⁷, Seppo Salminen⁴⁸, Juana Frias⁴⁹, Christophe Chassard³⁹, Guy Vergères³⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Biological Research Sinisa Stankovic, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
² Department of Food Engineering, Manisa Celal Bayar University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Science, Manisa, Türkiye.
³ Egas Moniz Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CiiEM), Egas Moniz School of Health and Science, Almada, Portugal.
⁴ Competence Division Method Development and Analytics, Agroscope, Berne, Switzerland.
⁵ Institute of Sciences of Food Production (ISPA), National Research Council (CNR), Bari, Italy.
⁶ STLO, INRAE, Institut Agro-Rennes Angers, Rennes, France.
⁷ Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Panamericana, Aguascalientes, Mexico.
⁸ Department of Food Science, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
⁹ Department of Food Biosciences, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Fermoy, Ireland.
¹⁰ School of Living and Environmental Engineering, Dongyang Mirae University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
¹¹ Biotechnology Research Center, Field Crops Central Research Institute, Ankara, Türkiye.
¹² Department of Food Engineering, Hitit University, Corum, Türkiye.
¹³ Department of Food Engineering, Izmir Institute of Technology, Izmir, Türkiye.
¹⁴ Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Türkiye.
¹⁵ French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), Montpellier, France.
¹⁶ Faculty of Food Technology, University "Isa Boletini", Mitrovica, Republic of Kosovo.
¹⁷ Biotechnology Institute, Gebze Technical University, Kocaeli, Türkiye.
¹⁸ Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Notre Dame University-Louaize, Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon.
¹⁹ Department of Food Engineering, Akdeniz University Faculty of Engineering, Antalya, Türkiye.
²⁰ Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ege University, Izmir, Türkiye.
²¹ Department of Dairy Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, Izmir, Türkiye.
²² Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Türkiye.
²³ Department of Fishing and Fish Processing Technology, Faculty of Marine Sciences and Technology, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Canakkale, Türkiye.
²⁴ ÄIO, Tallinn, Estonia.
²⁵ MED-Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development-CHANGE-Global Change and Sustainability Institute and Departamento de Medicina Veterinária-Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia (ECT), Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal.
²⁶ Department of Physiology and Biochemistry of Nutrition, Max Rubner-Institut, Karlsruhe, Germany.
²⁷ Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology, School of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
²⁸ Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece.
²⁹ Departamento de Microbiología y Bioquímica, Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias (IPLA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Villaviciosa, Spain.
³⁰ Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Food Institute, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Skopje, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North Macedonia.
³¹ Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
³² Food Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
³³ Institute of Dairy Science and Probiotics, Department of Animal Science, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Domžale, Slovenia.
³⁴ Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari, Bari, Italy.
³⁵ Research Division Microbial Food Systems, Agroscope, Berne, Switzerland.
³⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Health Systems, Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³⁷ Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Skopje, North Macedonia.
³⁸ Swedish Centre for Resource Recovery, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden.
³⁹ Human Nutrition Unit, INRAE, Université Clermont-Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
⁴⁰ Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁴¹ Department of Chemistry and Biodynamics of Food, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn, Poland.
⁴² Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
⁴³ Department of Food Science and Technology, Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁴⁴ Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Sikkim University, Gangtok, India.
⁴⁵ Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad, India.
⁴⁶ Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye.
⁴⁷ Instituto Nacional de Salud de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.
⁴⁸ Functional foods Forum, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁴⁹ Department of Technological Processes and Biotechnology, Institute of Food Science, Technology and Nutrition (ICTAN-CSIC), Madrid, Spain.

PMID: 39309142
PMCID: PMC11414650
DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1458536

Review

Health benefits and risks of fermented foods-the PIMENTO initiative

Smilja Todorovic et al. Front Nutr. 2024.

. 2024 Sep 3:11:1458536.

doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1458536. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Biological Research Sinisa Stankovic, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
² Department of Food Engineering, Manisa Celal Bayar University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Science, Manisa, Türkiye.
³ Egas Moniz Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CiiEM), Egas Moniz School of Health and Science, Almada, Portugal.
⁴ Competence Division Method Development and Analytics, Agroscope, Berne, Switzerland.
⁵ Institute of Sciences of Food Production (ISPA), National Research Council (CNR), Bari, Italy.
⁶ STLO, INRAE, Institut Agro-Rennes Angers, Rennes, France.
⁷ Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Panamericana, Aguascalientes, Mexico.
⁸ Department of Food Science, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
⁹ Department of Food Biosciences, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Fermoy, Ireland.
¹⁰ School of Living and Environmental Engineering, Dongyang Mirae University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
¹¹ Biotechnology Research Center, Field Crops Central Research Institute, Ankara, Türkiye.
¹² Department of Food Engineering, Hitit University, Corum, Türkiye.
¹³ Department of Food Engineering, Izmir Institute of Technology, Izmir, Türkiye.
¹⁴ Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Türkiye.
¹⁵ French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), Montpellier, France.
¹⁶ Faculty of Food Technology, University "Isa Boletini", Mitrovica, Republic of Kosovo.
¹⁷ Biotechnology Institute, Gebze Technical University, Kocaeli, Türkiye.
¹⁸ Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Notre Dame University-Louaize, Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon.
¹⁹ Department of Food Engineering, Akdeniz University Faculty of Engineering, Antalya, Türkiye.
²⁰ Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ege University, Izmir, Türkiye.
²¹ Department of Dairy Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, Izmir, Türkiye.
²² Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Türkiye.
²³ Department of Fishing and Fish Processing Technology, Faculty of Marine Sciences and Technology, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Canakkale, Türkiye.
²⁴ ÄIO, Tallinn, Estonia.
²⁵ MED-Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development-CHANGE-Global Change and Sustainability Institute and Departamento de Medicina Veterinária-Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia (ECT), Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal.
²⁶ Department of Physiology and Biochemistry of Nutrition, Max Rubner-Institut, Karlsruhe, Germany.
²⁷ Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology, School of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
²⁸ Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece.
²⁹ Departamento de Microbiología y Bioquímica, Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias (IPLA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Villaviciosa, Spain.
³⁰ Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Food Institute, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Skopje, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North Macedonia.
³¹ Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
³² Food Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
³³ Institute of Dairy Science and Probiotics, Department of Animal Science, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Domžale, Slovenia.
³⁴ Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari, Bari, Italy.
³⁵ Research Division Microbial Food Systems, Agroscope, Berne, Switzerland.
³⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Health Systems, Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³⁷ Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Skopje, North Macedonia.
³⁸ Swedish Centre for Resource Recovery, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden.
³⁹ Human Nutrition Unit, INRAE, Université Clermont-Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
⁴⁰ Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁴¹ Department of Chemistry and Biodynamics of Food, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn, Poland.
⁴² Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
⁴³ Department of Food Science and Technology, Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁴⁴ Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Sikkim University, Gangtok, India.
⁴⁵ Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad, India.
⁴⁶ Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye.
⁴⁷ Instituto Nacional de Salud de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.
⁴⁸ Functional foods Forum, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁴⁹ Department of Technological Processes and Biotechnology, Institute of Food Science, Technology and Nutrition (ICTAN-CSIC), Madrid, Spain.

PMID: 39309142
PMCID: PMC11414650
DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1458536

Abstract

Worldwide, fermented foods (FF) are recognized as healthy and safe. Despite the rapid increase of research papers, there is a lack of systematic evaluation of the health benefits and risks of FF. The COST Action CA20128 "Promoting innovation of fermented foods" (PIMENTO) aims to provide a comprehensive assessment on the available evidence by compiling a set of 16 reviews. Seven reviews will cover clinical and biological endpoints associated with major health indicators across several organ systems, including the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, neurological, immune, and skeletal systems. Nine reviews will address broader biological questions associated with FF including bioactive compounds and vitamin production, nutrient bioavailability and bioaccessibility, the role of FF in healthy diets and personalized nutrition, food safety, regulatory practices, and finally, the health properties of novel and ethnic FF. For each outcome assessed in the reviews, an innovative approach will be adopted based on EFSA's published guidance for health claim submissions. In particular, each review will be composed of three parts: (1) a systematic review of available human studies; (2) a non-systematic review of the mechanism of action related to the clinical endpoints measured by the human studies identified in part 1; and (3) a non-systematic review of the characterization of the FF investigated in the human studies identified in part 1. The evidence and research gaps derived from the reviews will be summarized and published in the form of a strategic road map that will pave the way for future research on FF.

Keywords: fermented foods; food characterization; food safety; functional claims; health benefits; health claims; mechanism of action; systematic review.

Copyright © 2024 Todorovic, Akpinar, Assunção, Bär, Bavaro, Berkel Kasikci, Domínguez-Soberanes, Capozzi, Cotter, Doo, Gündüz Ergün, Guzel, Harsa, Hastaoglu, Humblot, Hyseni, Hosoglu, Issa, Karakaş-Budak, Karakaya, Kesenkas, Keyvan, Künili, Kütt, Laranjo, Louis, Mantzouridou, Matalas, Mayo, Mojsova, Mukherjee, Nikolaou, Ortakci, Paveljšek, Perrone, Pertziger, Santa, Sar, Savary-Auzeloux, Schwab, Starowicz, Stojanović, Syrpas, Tamang, Yerlikaya, Yilmaz, Malagon-Rojas, Salminen, Frias, Chassard and Vergères.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Overview of the reviewing strategy of PIMENTO WG3 to evaluate the health benefits and risks of fermented foods. E1–E7 refer to each of the seven “EFSA projects.” S1–S9 refer to each of the nine “Satellite projects.”

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, Springmann M, Lang T, Vermeulen S, et al. . Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-lancet commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet. (2019) 393:447–92. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
1. Pradyumna A. Planetary health and food systems: insights from global SDGs. Lancet Planet Health. (2018) 2:e417–8. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30202-X - DOI - PubMed
1. Alsubhi M, Blake M, Nguyen T, Majmudar I, Moodie M, Ananthapavan J. Consumer willingness to pay for healthier food products: a systematic review. Obes Rev. (2023) 24:e13525. doi: 10.1111/obr.13525, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Mozaffari H, Hosseini Z, Lafrenière J, Conklin AI. The role of dietary diversity in preventing metabolic-related outcomes: findings from a systematic review. Obes Rev. (2021) 22:e13174. doi: 10.1111/obr.13174, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
1. Cardinale BJ, Duffy JE, Gonzalez A, Hooper DU, Perrings C, Venail P, et al. . Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity. Nature. (2012) 486:59–67. doi: 10.1038/nature11148 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Actions

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
- Frontiers Media SA
- PubMed Central

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Health benefits and risks of fermented foods-the PIMENTO initiative

Affiliations

Health benefits and risks of fermented foods-the PIMENTO initiative

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources