Wheat bran water unextractable portion (WB-WUP) was subjected to xylanase treatment to obtain a mixture of xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS). XOS mixture was purified on charcoal-celite column and the individual oligosaccharides were separated on a Bio-Gel P-2 column. The sugar composition of the purified oligosaccharides was determined by GLC and their structure was deduced by ESI-MS and 1 H and 13 C NMR. The major oligosaccharides identified were xylobiose and xylotriose (consisting of arabinose). Five strains of lactobacilli (probiotics), XOS (prebiotics) and a combination of both (synbiotics) in milk (as medium) were monitored for antioxidant activity. DPPH radical scavenging activity (~70 %) as well as ferric reducing power (~80 mg/ 100 ml FeSO 4 eq) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in all the synbiotic preparations compared to that of control. The present study indicated that the synbiotic preparations consisting of XOS and lactobacilli can be effectively used as dietary supplement.