Week 7 is about Fermentation. There are 3 different types of fermentation. Lactic Acid, Ethanol/alcohol, and Acetic acid. Let us take some time to reflect on why understanding how fermentation works, affects our everyday lives. ~ 450 or more. Please respond to two others substantially and why. Not just I agree or that is awesome... I have also attached two of my classmates' discussions and I have to respond.
COLLAPSE 1. When it comes to fermentation, it is vital to understand how it works and affects us in our everyday lives. There are 3 types of fermentation processes. These include lactic acid, ethanol or alcohol, and acetic acid fermentation. Firstly, lactic acid fermentation occurs after glycolysis when pyruvate is a product and oxygen is not available. It also occurs when organisms need energy when oxygen is limited, especially during an exercise or running for their prey. Importantly, lactic acid is an essential substance that keeps our active cells, like muscles cells, from overworking so much. For instance, when we exercise, our muscles eventually become sore, resulting from lactic acid fermentation. Lactic acid is also vital when it comes to using bacteria to make certain foods and biomolecules. For instance, lactic acid is used in dairy products which give us carbohydrates and protein. More importantly, it helps preserves foods, from fruits to cereals, which benefits us in having an abundance of healthy and delicious foods. When it comes to ethanol or alcohol fermentation, it occurs after glycolysis when pyruvate is a product and oxygen is also not present. Also, yeast, bacteria that helps break down sugars, is present in order to turn the pyruvate (sugar) into ethanol. Ethanol fermentation is important to understand since it helps make bread, an essential carbohydrate in our diets. It is also necessary for turning certain carbs into biofuel for our transportation. For example, bioethanol goes through the alcohol fermentation process to serve as a renewable fuel for cars and large vehicles. More importantly, ethanol is used in antimicrobial and disinfecting substances, like hand sanitizers, which help stop bacteria from invading our bodies and prevent them from spreading. Lastly, acetic acid fermentation is another process that occurs when the end product of glycolysis is broken down while oxygen is not present. This type of fermentation involves converting glucose to ethanol to acetic acid. Like ethanol fermentation, glucose is broken down with pyruvate decarboxylase to turn in acetaldehyde then with alcohol dehydrogenase into ethanol. However, this type of reaction adds another step in which bacteria ferments ethanol into acetic acid. Significantly, acetic acid is used in a variety of things that we consume or use. For instance, it is used to make vinegar, like white vinegar, which is used in cooking or cleaning. Another vinegar that consists of acetic acid is apple cider, which has health benefits in killing bacteria and managing diabetes. Acetic acid is also used for medical purposes like treating bacterial infections like staphylococci. Significantly, acetic acid can be used in many cases that involve bacteria harming other organisms. Moreover, fermentation is crucial to the human body in keeping muscle cells intact and making useful substances in our everyday lives. From preserving food to cleaning, lactic acid, ethanol, and acetic acid affects how we adapt to our environment, especially when it comes to our health. 2. Fermentation is an ancient process that has been used for over 10,000 years now. It has found use both in the agricultural, husbandry and the medical field. Fermentation involves different raw materials, microorganisms, and techniques. There are four different types of fermentation these are lactic acid, alcohol, acetic acid and alkaline fermentation, lactic acid type entails the use of the lactic acid bacteria and includes the fermented cereals. In alcohol fermentation there is the production of ethanol and in this type beer, and wine form the best example the organism that is used here is yeast. Acetic acid fermentation is produced from the acetobacter species, this bacteria converts alcohol to acetic acid in the presence of oxygen an example is vinegar. Alkaline fermentation occurs in the fermentation of soybeans, fish and seeds (Anal, 2019). This has seen for its continued use in the food production industries and other industries like the breweries. In food fermentation it has been found to be useful in the preservation of food therefore increasing its shelf life, impacts on the food organoleptic properties, increases the nutritional value of food, and ensures safety of the food products. This has been found beneficial in a wide range of food products such as milk, fish, vegetable, and fish. This therefore indicates the role that this process has been found as beneficial in the daily lifestyle of humans (Dimidi et al., 2019). Several bacteria have been implicated to be essential in the fermentation process are the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) these include lactococcus, leuconostoc, streptococcus and lactobacillus. Among the other microorganisms that are involved in fermentation is yeast and fungi. These have been found useful in the initiation of any fermentation process that is done in vitro studies. These bacteria have found use in the medical field as it has led to the development of probiotics which have been found useful in management of many infections. In the treatment of many reproductive infection and peptic ulcer disease in human accompaniment of the pharmacological agents with these probiotics have been found to increase the therapeutic outcome of these patients to their medication. Thus this indicates the role that has been played by fermentation in the formulation of these probiotics that are of benefit in the human medicine (Taylor et al., 2020). In human toxicology fermentation has also been found to be important in the reduction of toxicity and anti-nutrients in some cereal products. This has been found useful in patients with irritable bowel syndrome as it increases their tolerance to products such as monosaccharides, disaccharides and oligosaccharides (Dimidi et al., 2019). It is thus evident that fermentation can add novel characteristics to foods, medication and therefore impart potential benefit to the human health. However, more research needs to be performed in order to determine the biomarkers for the fermented health food benefits and any potential for their toxicity.