Abstract:
Traditional leavened wheat-based flat bread khambir is a staple food for the highaltitude
people of the Western Himalayan region. The health promoting abilities of two
types of khambir, yeast added khambir (YAK) and buttermilk added khambir (BAK),
were evaluated. A group of microbes like yeast, mold, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and
Bifidobacterium sp. were abundant in both khambir but in varied proportions. Both are
enriched with phenolics and flavonoids. The aqueous extracts of both breads strongly
inhibited the growth of enteropathogens. Molecular docking experiments showed that
phenolic acid, particularly p-coumaric acid, blocked the active sites of b-glucosidase
and acetylcholine esterase (AChE), thereby inhibiting their activities. YAK and BAK
showed antiradical and antioxidant activity ranging from 46 to 67% evaluated using 2,2-
diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid
(ABTS), and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. The aqueous extract of
both khambir samples protected the arsenic toxicity when examined under an in situ
rat intestinal loop model study. The arsenic induced elevated levels of superoxide
dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and DNA
fragmentation, and transmembrane mitochondrial potential was alleviated by khambir
extract. These results scientifically supported its age-old health benefit claims by the
consumer at high altitude and there are enough potentialities to explore khambir as a
medicinal food for human welfare.
