Mikaela Kasperek is a registered dietician with a PhD in nutritional sciences. Her research focuses on the health benefits of fermented foods, focusing on the role of microbial metabolites, particularly aryl-lactates. While existing evidence suggests fermented foods are beneficial (e.g., reduced inflammation, lower type 2 diabetes risk), the mechanisms remain unclear.

Her presentation at the Stanford Fermented Food Conference was titled ‘Harnessing Microbial Metabolites in Fermented Foods to Improve Health‘. It addressed ways to increase the health benefits of fermented foods by adding specific compounds.

Kasperek’s work highlights lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as key producers of immunomodulatory aryl-lactates (phenyllactic acid (PLA), 4-hydroxyphenylactic acid (4-HPLA), and indole-3-lactic acid (ILA)) from aromatic amino acids. While these metabolites are present in commercially available fermented foods, aryl-lactate concentrations vary significantly depending on food type and brand.

These benefit our health in a number of ways. ILA increases monocyte chemotaxis and binds to the HCAR3 receptor, similar to PLA. Uniquely, ILA has also been found to bind the aryl-hydrocarbon receptor (AHR). AHR is an evolutionarily conserved environmental sensor known to be highly implicated in the immune system response. The AHR is known to be impaired in chronic diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and obesity. Reduced microbial activation of AHR has been identified as a feature of both syndromes. Thus, given the evidence that aryl-lactates are immunomodulatory, thy could be key to fermented food health benefits.

Kasperek’s showed that adding citrate and/or alpha-ketoglutarate (which feeds into the citric acid cycle and accepts amine groups from aromatic amino acids) resulted in a “modest enhancement of our aryl-lactates, anywhere from 50 to 100 percent.” More impressive results were achieved:

We took this one step further, and we wanted to see if adding the upstream aryl-pyruvates themselves can enhance the production of aryl-lactates. And we were excited to see that adding these aryl-pyruvates made the downstream aryl lactate robustly enhanced in the monocultures. For example, we can see that when we added indole pyruvate to an L. plantarum monoculture, we had about 11,000 percent increase in the production of ILA.

These enhancement strategies were successfully applied to fermented foods including yogurt and sauerkraut. They showed robust increases in aryl-lactate production. In other words these additives significantly enhanced health benefits through specific interventions during fermentation.

In summary:

• Fermented foods contain bioactive microbe-derived aromatic amino acid metabolites.
• Aromatic amino acid metabolism can be manipulated to increase aryl-lactates.
• Optimized food ferments increase human aryl-hydrocarbon receptor activity.

Having heard the presentation, I was curious to learn if these benefits could be applied to kombucha. Unfortunately, the research has not yet focused on this beverage. However, Mikaela speculates:

There’s a lot more to learn about kombucha, which is known to be a beverage where more acetic acid bacteria predominant, and those bacteria aren’t known to have the enzymes to produce the metabolites we’re interested in, but the metabolites are still there. So even though kombucha is known to be more acetic acid bacteria predominant, and those bacteria aren’t known to have the enzymes to produce the metabolites we’re interested in, the metabolites are still there. Perhaps we can make a kombucha that has more lactic acid bacteria, so we can make more of these beneficial metabolites. And that could help with the overall health benefits of the drink itself.

To learn more contact Mikaela at mwebb24@illinois.edu.

The information in this post is provided for informational purposes only, and readers should verify the accuracy by checking the source literature. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of this publication.

Listen to the podcast for my interview with Mikaela where she addresses the opportunity to improve the health benefits of kombucha.

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