Enhancing the biotransformation of isoflavones in soymilk supplemented with lactose using probiotic bacteria during extended fermentation.

Soymilk (SM) lacks lactose; hence supplementation of SM with lactose is likely to enhance the growth of probiotic bacteria and biotransformation of isoflavone glycosides to isoflavone aglycones. In this study, 11 strains of probiotic bacteria including Lactobacillus rhamnosus, L. salivarius, L. plantarum, L. acidophilus, L. paracasei, HOWARU L. rhamnosus, L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Bifidobacterium lactis type Bi-07, B. longum, HOWARU B. bifidum, and B lactis type Bi-04 were inoculated individually or as mixed cultures into SM and soymilk supplemented with lactose (SML). A total of 2% of lactose was added to 1 L of SM with the aim of improving the growth of probiotic organisms and promoting the biotransformation of isoflavone isomers to bioactive isoflavone aglycomes. Samples of SM were incubated at 37 degrees C and 10 mL aliquots of SM were taken at 0, 24, 48, and 72 h to monitor the growth of probiotic bacteria and changes in isoflavone contents using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results indicated that SML fermented with probiotics had higher viable counts by >2.4 log CFU/mL than that in SM at the end of the 72 h fermentation period. Mixed cultures grew at different rates and in general Lactobacilius spp. had >1.02 log CFU/mL more cells than Bifidobacterium spp. at the end of the fermentation period. The total aglycone content in SM at 72 h of fermentation was 0.924 mg/100 mL, whereas that in SML was 1.623 mg/100 mL. Addition of lactose not only improved the growth of probiotic bacteria in SM but also enhanced the biotransformation of isoflavone glucosides to the more bioactive isoflavone aglycones. Mixed cultures did not improve the biotransformation of bioactive isoflavones when compared to single cultures.