Proc Nutr Soc. 2003 Feb;62(1):177-82.  

Oligosaccharides: state of the art.

Delzenne NM.

Unit of Pharmacokinetics, Metabolism, Nutrition and Toxicology, School of
Pharmacy, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
Delzenne@pmnt.ucl.ac.be

Oligosaccharides, consisting of a mixture of hexose oligomers with a variable
extent of polymerisation, are food products with interesting nutritional
properties. They may be naturally present in food, mostly in fruits, vegetables
or grains, or produced by biosynthesis from natural sugars or polysaccharides
and added to food products because of their nutritional properties or
organoleptic characteristics. The dietary intake of oligosaccharides is
difficult to estimate, but it may reach 3-13 g/d per person (for
fructo-oligosaccharides), depending on the population. The extent of resistance
to enzymic reactions occurring in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract
allows oligosaccharides to become 'colonic nutrients', as some intestinal
bacterial species express specific hydrolases and are able to convert
oligosaccharides into short-chain fatty acids (acetate, lactate, propionate,
butyrate) and/or gases by fermentation. Oligosaccharides that selectively
promote some interesting bacterial species (e.g. lactobacilli, bifidobacteria),
and thus equilibrate intestinal microflora, are now termed prebiotics. The
pattern of short-chain fatty acid production in the caeco-colon, as well as the
prebiotic effect, if demonstrated, are dynamic processes that vary with the type
of oligosaccharide (e.g. extent of polymerisation, nature of hexose moieties),
the duration of the treatment, the initial composition of flora or the diet in
which they are incorporated. Experimental data obtained in vitro and in vivo in
animals, and also recent data obtained in human subjects, support the
involvement of dietary oligosaccharides in physiological processes in the
different intestinal cell types (e.g. mucins production, cell division, immune
cells function, ionic transport) and also outside the gastrointestinal tract
(e.g. hormone production, lipid and carbohydrates metabolism). The present paper
gives an overview of the future development of oligosaccharides, newly
recognised as dietary fibre.

Publication Types:
    Review
    Review, Tutorial

PMID: 12749343 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]




PMID: 12749343 [PubMed - in process]