Wheat Fermentation With QAUSD01 and QAUWA03 Consortia Induces Concurrent Gliadin and Phytic Acid Degradation and Inhibits Gliadin Toxicity in Caco-2 Monolayers.

Foods containing high amounts of either phytic acid or gliadin can pose a risk for development of iron deficiency and celiac disease, respectively. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of preselected gliadin degrading strains, QAUSD01 and QAUWA03, on phytic acid and gliadin degradation in six wheat cultivars (, , , , , ). Tight junction proteins, -epithelial resistance (TER) and ruffle formation in Caco-2 cells were evaluated relative to -mediated fermented and unfermented controls. Phytic acid degradation was demonstrated in all six cultivars fermented with QAUSD01 and QAUWA03 consortia. Among the six fermented cultivars, showed relatively higher degradation of gliadin. In comparison to the other tested wheat varieties, fermentation of was associated with minimal toxic effects on Caco-2 cells in terms of ruffle formation, tight junction proteins and TER, which can be attributed to extensive degradation of toxic gliadin fragments.