Prebiotic activity of gourd family vegetable fibres using in vitro fermentation

Gourd family vegetables having a high content of minerals find application in food and medicine. These vegetables are also rich source of insoluble and soluble dietary fibres. This paper reports prebiotic ability of dietary fibre from five vegetables viz., Benincasa hispida, Lagenaria siceraria, Momordica charantia, Trichosanthes anguina, and Cucurbita maxima with wheat fibre as control. Bile salt adsorption was used for preliminary screening of all vegetables wherein M. charantia showed the highest adsorption. Pure cultures as well as mix culture of Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus fermentum, Bifidobacterium breve and Clostridium acetobutilicum species were used to study in vitro fermentation for total short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production. B. hispida fibres with a 48 h fermentation period produced 1563 mM of total SCFA which was the highest amongst all the vegetables. In the present study, gourd family vegetables were seen to have significant prebiotic ability.

► This paper analyses prebiotic potential of five gourd family vegetables. ► Momordica charantia showed as high as 24% of bile salt adsorption. ► Benincasa hispida with the highest SCFA can serve as a potential prebiotic source.