Table 2. Summary of the health-related effects associated major microbes for food fermentation

Health-relevant effects	Major microbes	Key metabolites	References
Balances gut microbiota, modulates gut microbiota, enhances gut barrier integrity	Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus	Lactic acid, peptides	Wastyk et al., 2021, Caffrey et al., 2024, Louw et al., 2023, Balasubramanian et al., 2024.
Boosts immunity, immune modulation	Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Lactococcus	SCFAs, bioactive peptides	Liu et al., 2025, Sharma et al., 2025, Duhan et al., 2025, Zheng et al., 2020.
Inhibits pathogens, supports gut motility, improves lipid metabolism	Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium	SCFAs, bacteriocins, organic acids, bioactive peptides	Du et al., 2024, Ragavan and Hemalatha, 2024, Mandaliya et al., 2025, Peres Fabbri et al. 2024, Chourasia et al., 2023.
Cardiovascular benefits, gut flora modulation	Bacillus	Polyglutamic acid, nattokinase, vitamin K2	Pourjafar et al., 2023, Hernández-Figueroa et al., 2025, Sadeghi et al., 2024.