Comparative assessment of compositional constituents and antioxidant effects in ginseng sprouts (Panax ginseng) through aging and fermentation processes

The main objectives of this research was to demonstrate fluctuations of compositional constituents and antioxidant effects in aging (AGS) and fermentation (FAGS) processes regarding beneficial qualities of food industry from dried ginseng sprouts (DGS). Moreover, our wok is the first to compare the influential factors on antioxidant and physicochemical properties. Total amino acids (4537 → 2129 → 2450 mg/100g) and volatiles (3538 → 1015 → 325 ng/g) decreased considerably during DGS → AGS → FAGS processes, specifically, arginine (2490 → 1034 → 1351 mg/100g) and β-farnesene (1940 → 202 → 19 ng/g) showed the predominant decrease rates. Total ginsenoside contents also decreased with 37.39 → 33.83 → 34.52 mg/g, however, the deglycosilated ginsenoside F2 (2.15 → 3.56 → 4.59 mg/g, 2.1-fold) and compound K (CK) (0.75 → 2.98 → 4.07 mg/g, 5.4-fold) increased with high variations. Interestingly, ginsenoside Re decreased with the highest variation rate (6.47 → 2.45 → 1.53 mg/g, 4.2-fold). The antioxidant capacities increased remarkably with approximately 2 times in DGS → AGS → FAGS steps as follows: ABTS assay > DPPH assay > hydroxyl radical scavenge > FRAP at 1000 μg/mL. In particular, processed ginseng sprouts were observed high values of total phenolic content (TPC) (2.4 → 4.9 → 5.5 GAE/g), total flavonoid content (TFC) (0.5 → 0.9 → 1.3 RE/g), and of maillard reaction products (MRP) (2.0 → 2.8 → 2.9 OD420nm) than DGS. Our results suggest that AGS and FAGS may be utilized as potential candidates on beneficial compositions and natural antioxidants for functional foods.