A range of probiotic and other intestinal bacteria were examined for their ability to ferment the dietary ®bre carbohydrates b-glucan, xylan, xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) and arabinoxylan. bGlucan was fermented by Bacteroides spp and Clostridium beijerinckii but was not fermented by lactobacilli, bi®dobacteria, enterococci or Escherichia coli. Unsubstituted xylan was not fermented by any of the probiotic bacteria examined. However, many Bi®dobacterium species and Lactobacillus brevis were able to grow to high yields using XOS. XOS were also ef®ciently fermented by some Bacteroides isolates but not by E coli, enterococci, Clostridium dif®cile, Clostridium perfringens or by the majority of intestinal Lactobacillus species examined. Bi®dobacterium longum strains were able to grow well using arabinoxylan as the sole carbon source. These organisms hydrolysed and fermented the arabinosyl residues from arabinoxylan but did not substantially utilise the xylan backbone of the polysaccharide. Arabinoxylan was not fermented by lactobacilli, enterococci, E coli, C perfringens or C dif®cile and has potential to be an applicable carbohydrate to complement probiotic Bif longum strains in synbiotic combinations.

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