Co-culture submerged fermentation by lactobacillus and yeast more effectively improved the profiles and bioaccessibility of phenolics in extruded brown rice than single-culture fermentation.

This study aims to investigate the effects of fermentation on the phenolic components and their bioaccessibility in extruded brown rice (EBR). The saccharified solution of EBR (SS-EBR) depicted higher phenolics when fermented by single or co-culture of Lactobacillusplantarum, Lactobacillus fermentum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae for 24 h at 37 °C. The co-culture fermented SS-EBR more significantly enhanced free, conjugated and bound phenolics and flavonoids with total increment of 93.3% and 61.3%, respectively. Fermentation changed the contents and compositions of phenolics in each fraction with more than 10-fold increase in vanillic acid and quercetin contents. Ferulic, p-cumaric and chlorogenic acids were increased by 83.5%, 52.2% and 113.4%, respectively, while kaempferol and cinnamic acid were found only in fermented SS-EBR. Fermentation also improved the oxygen radical absorption capacity (ORAC) and the bioaccessible phenolics in SS-EBR. Hence, the co-culture fermented SS-EBR, can be utilized as a functional supplement to provide more bioaccessible antioxidants.