Fermented cereals, subjected to solid-state fermentation (SSF), are drawing attention as a potential dietary strategy in managing liver diseases. These diseases, a class of illnesses that currently represent one of the leading global causes of mortality, claim about 2 million lives each year worldwide, linked to cirrhosis, other chronic liver conditions, and not least, liver cancer.
A recent review published in Nutrients, in which Italian researchers participated, analyzed results from in vivo and in vitro studies, and seems to demonstrate that the fermentation of cereals using solid-state fermentation technology promotes greater development of phenolic compounds and other substances, thereby enhancing hepatoprotective effects already recognized for these components.
Could new options emerge to safeguard liver health or to treat related conditions? It’s not out of the question. Moreover there is evidence that SSF may also improve the composition of the gut microbiota, supporting the growth of specific bacterial strains that are advantageous to the liver.
The Potential of SSF
Solid-state fermentation is a distinctive biotechnological process that, using a solid substrate—i.e., without a free liquid medium—can boost the growth of certain microorganisms, including bacteria, yeasts, or fungi. The technology, when applied to cereals, would exert multiple positive effects, including improving their nutritional profile, digestibility, palatability, and shelf life, thanks to acidification and the production of natural antimicrobials.
Additional benefits induced by SSF would be associated with increased development and production of certain bioactive compounds, including polyphenols and peptides, as well as with greater bioavailability of essential minerals, such as iron, zinc, calcium, and potassium, due to the action of specific microorganisms that degrade anti-nutritional compounds like phytates and tannins present in cereals that reduce mineral absorption.
Some other microorganisms, during fermentation, instead produce B vitamins, vitamin K, and antioxidants, making fermented cereals richer in micronutrients. Not least, there is evidence that fermented foods can contribute to balancing the gut microbiota, promoting the growth of beneficial microorganisms and reducing harmful ones.
Experimental Studies
Fermented cereals are associated with properties such as glucose regulation, thereby improving lipid profiles, and with the promotion of antioxidant effects: capabilities that have led to considering their use to support the treatment of chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
Today there is interest in whether fermented cereals may offer protective benefits to liver health and/or associated diseases: preliminary results from some experimental studies seem to support favorable effects. For example, studies in vitro and in vivo would demonstrate the ability of fermented cereals to positively affect the liver, thanks to their antioxidant properties, counteracting oxidative stress—a potential driver of several liver diseases such as hepatitis B or C, alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma due to anaerobic metabolism and/or various pathological conditions.
Specifically, in vitro and in vivo studies would suggest the capacity of fermented cereals to reduce hepatic lipid accumulation, largely due to the phenolic component, enhanced by SSF, present in the fermented cereals themselves.
Some Effective Fermented Foods
From in vitro studies, the dual action of fermented rice bran with Lactobacillus fermentum MF423 stands out, which would have increased glucose consumption on one hand and reduced lipid accumulation on the other, exerting positive effects in countering insulin-resistant hepatic cells from progressing to more severe liver conditions.
Results that would also be supported by experimental studies in which animal models fed with cereals treated with MF423 showed reduced damage to hepatic cells and less accumulation of lipid droplets.
Positive evidence also regarding fermented barley with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum dy-1, capable again of limiting lipid deposition in hepatocytes with a high fat content, with an inhibitory action on the biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids. In vitro results found support in in vivo studies where rats fed a high-fat diet, switched to a dietary therapy with black barley fermentation broth, showed a decrease in triglycerides, total cholesterol, and free fatty acids in the liver.
In Conclusion
The observed results, although still experimental and preliminary, appear to support that fermented cereals, as a whole, can help modulate lipid metabolism, positioning them as a potential strategy to prevent and manage metabolic-dysfunction–associated liver disease. This hypothesis, however, will need to be confirmed by further studies.
Source
Wijaya GYA, Vornoli A, Giambastiani L et al. Solid-State Fermented Cereals: Increased Phenolics and Their Role in Attenuating Liver Diseases. Nutrients 2025, 17(5), 900. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17050900
Abbonati a Karla Miller
