Harnessing probiotic fermentation for cabbage-based functional food: enhancing bioactive compounds and cytotoxicity properties

The discovery of functional food has attracted growing research interest in the pharmaceutical and therapeutic health studies. However, understanding about probiotic-food interactions still remain limited, especially regarding the efficacy of strain-specific effects and consortium synergies, leading substantial uncertainties in their development and application. Therefore, this study examined the synergies effects of Brassica vegetable cabbage fermented with eight probiotics strains to yield optimal bioactive compounds. The production of probiotic fermented cabbage (PFC) is optimal under fermentation condition at 3% salt concentration at 25 °C with 48 h fermentation periods The addition of probiotic improved bioactive compounds such as flavonoid, phenolic, glucosinolates contents and antioxidant activity compared to raw fermented cabbage. The PFC that consisting of 8 probiotic consortiums showed highest flavonoid (818.6 mg QE/ 100 g), phenolic (494.62 mg GA/ 100 g) and glucosinolates content (25.097 mg / 100 g). The optimal formulation PFC showed higher cytotoxicity properties and lower oxidative stress in three cell lines (MCF-7, HCT116, and 3T3-L1) compared to raw cabbage. The development of cost-effective probiotic-fermented cabbage (PFC) offers promising potential for enhancing nutritional value and advancing food-based health applications.