Galactooligosaccharides: Novel Components of Designer Foods

Abstract

Since introduction of functional foods, commercialization of the traditionally used probiotics has ushered in more followers into the new fraternity of sophisticated, health-conscious consumers. In 1995, this was followed by the first introduction of prebiotics. Prebiotics are defined as "a non-digestible feed supplement, beneficially affecting the host by selectively stimulating growth and/or activity in one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon." The number of new product introductions with prebiotics has steeply increased over the last few years. Paradoxically, probiotics have limited applications as these cannot be used in wide range of food products because of their viability issue. Fortunately, prebiotics do not suffer from any such constraint and can be used in a wide range of food products. Probiotics do not have a long shelf life in their active form. In most cases, refrigeration is required to maintain the shelf life. While probiotics are predominantly used in fermented dairy products, the use of prebiotics has expanded into other food categories. Prebiotics have successfully been incorporated in a wide variety of human food products such as baked goods, sweeteners, yoghurts, nutrition bars, and meal replacement shakes. For instance, the introduction of galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) into baby foods has been very successful. GOS, which are identical to the human milk oligosaccharides, has emerged with strong clinical support for both digestive and immune health. Various aspects related to GOS such as types and functions of functional food constituents with special reference to GOS, their role as prebiotics, and enhanced industrial production through microbial intervention are dealt in this review.

Prebiotics in infant formula

“…GOS, which are quite similar to the human milk OS, have emerged with strong clinical support for both digestive and immune health. 5 This was also shown for inulin-type fructans. 6 The prebiotic effect is defined as "the selective stimulation of growth and/or activity (ies) of one or a limited number of microbial genus(era)/species in the gut microbiota that confer(s) health benefits to the host.…”

Extruded corn gruels containing linden flowers: quantitation of phenolic compounds and selected quality characteristics

“…Fruits and vegetables are the most popular components added to cereal extrudates, but some waste products or functional compound isolates may be used [8,13,[18][19][20]. Linden flower (Tiliae inflorescentia) is one of the herbal supplements most often used.…”

Trends in dairy and non-dairy probiotic products - a review

“…Supplementation of a probiotic-fermented soymilk with the fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS), inulin and pectin increased the angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory activity and enhanced the in vitro antihypertensive effect (Yeo and Liong 2010). The functional and health benefits and recent developments in the production of the galactooligosaccharides (GOS) and its application in fruit juices and beverages have been thoroughly reviewed (Sangwan et al 2011). Very recently, Rastall and Gibson (2015) reviewed the impact of prebiotics in promoting the growth beneficial microbes and intestinal health.…”