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Abstract
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Background: Candida albicans (C. albicans) is known as an opportunistic fungal pathogen, and although it is a normal flora of the gastrointestinal tract, it has the ability to colonize every human tissue, causing serious and invasive infections.
Objective: This study focused on the antifungal activity of the produced yogurts and kefirs from cow, camel, sheep, and goat milk against C. albicans during the storage period at 4 ºC.
Materials and Methods: The pH, titratable acidity, the content of some organic acids, and anti-Candida activity of yogurt and kefir samples were evaluated based on the aim of the study.
Results: The titratable acidity of the samples significantly increased after the fermentation, along with pH reductions. The concentration of lactic and pyruvic acids increased during the fermentation while citric, uric, and hippuric acid content demonstrated a decrease. The results revealed that kefir samples had a stronger anti-Candida effect compared to yogurt samples. On the first day of the storage period, the growth inhibitory effect of sheep milk kefir was 90.20%, followed by camel kefir (78.37%), goat kefir (74.52%), cow kefir (73.23%), sheep yogurt (48.56%), camel yogurt (37.51%), cow yogurt (34.42%), and goat yogurt (30.32%). Eventually, the inhibition rate of sheep milk kefir reached 96.50% after 20 days of storage.
Conclusion: It seems that kefir may be used as a nutraceutical and functional food against C.albicans infections.
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