Strawberry is a rich source of soluble dietary fibers, mainly pectin. Despite the lack of human digestive enzymes to degrade these molecules, some gut microbiota can fulfill the shortage of human gastrointestinal tract by providing essential enzymes for fiber metabolism, thus releasing beneficial compounds including SCFAs for human health. Recently, Bacteroides spp have been reported with fiber degrading functions on some plant polysaccharides, however, no specific studies regarding strawberry fiber fermentability of Bacteroides spp have been reported yet. The aim of this study is to evaluate strawberry fiber fermentability of Bacteroides spp. In this study, strawberry soluble fiber was extracted by hot water decoction. The extract was then precipitated with hydroalcoholic solution. After filtration, lyophilization was done to yield fiber flakes. For fermentability assessment, cultivation of Bacteroides spp in minimal medium was conducted using 0.5% strawberry fiber as sole carbon source in comparison to dextrose and commercial citrus pectin. After fermentation at various time points, aliquots of samples were collected and analyzed by means of pH determination, qPCR experiment, and chromatographic techniques. As a result, in terms of pH change, strawberry fiber was comparable to commercial citrus pectin. Slight pH lowering effects was observed at 12 h of fermentation, and more obvious reduction could be seen from 24 h. The concentration of SCFAs were also increased along the fermentation. At 48 h of fermentation, HPSEC analysis results revealed that most of strawberry polysaccharides were degraded showing different chromatograms among Bacteroides spp. Similarly, results from TLC and gel electrophoresis studies also confirmed strawberry fiber degradation with divergent patterns among bacterial species. In summary, this study suggested the utilization of strawberry dietary fiber by Bacteroides spp which, in turn, provided support for use of strawberry fiber as prebiotics.

Fermentability of strawberry soluble fiber by Bacteroides spp

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