Abstract
This article aimed at investigating the synthesis of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory peptides and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) during sourdough fermentation of white wheat, wholemeal wheat, and rye flours. Sourdough lactic acid bacteria, selected previously for proteinase and peptidase activities toward wheat proteins or for the capacity of synthesizing GABA, were used. The highest ACE-inhibitory activity was found by fermenting flour under semiliquid conditions (dough yield 330) and, especially, by using wholemeal wheat flour. Fourteen peptides, not previously reported as ACE-inhibitory, were identified from the water/salt-soluble extract of wholemeal wheat sourdough (IC50 0.19−0.54 mg/mL). The major part of the identified peptides contained the well-known antihypertensive epitope VAP. The synthesis of GABA increased when the dough yield was decreased to 160. The highest synthesis of GABA (258.71 mg/kg) was found in wholemeal wheat sourdough.