Prebiotic effects of inulin and oligofructose.

canstockphoto14048559-1The work of Glenn R. Gibson’s Lab is outstanding. He has a long history of exploring how prebiotics affect the gut microbiome. He was ahead of his time with this study on inulin and oligofructose. Click on the title and read the details about how both of these prebiotics beneficially change the gut microbiota–displacing bad bacteria and replacing it with good microbes.

Prebiotic effects of inulin and oligofructose

British Journal of Nutrition. 2002 May;87 Suppl 2:S193-7.

Kolida S, Tuohy K, Gibson GR..

Food Microbial Sciences Unit, School of Food Biosciences, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, UK. afr99sk@reading.ac.uk

Abstract

Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that target certain components within the microbiota of the human large intestine. Efficient prebiotics need to have a specific fermentation therein and thereby have the ability to alter the fecal microflora composition towards a more ‘beneficial’ community structure. This should occur by the stimulation of benign or potentially health promoting genera but not the harmful groups. Because of their positive attributes bifidobacteria and lactobacilli are the most frequent [health-promoting] target organisms.

Both inulin and oligofructose have been demonstrated to be effective prebiotics. This has been shown through both in vitro and in vivo assessments in different laboratories. Because of their recognized prebiotic properties, principally the selective stimulation of colonic bifidobacteria, both inulin and oligofructose are increasingly used in new food product developments. Examples include drinks, yoghurts, biscuits and table spreads.

Because of the recognized inhibitory effects that bifidobacteria can exert against gut pathogens, one of the most important aspects of prebiotic ingestion is fortification of the gut flora to resist acute infections.

PMID: 12088518. NIH, NLM,  PubMed access to MEDLINE

Oligofructose was an inspiration for this blog post: A Microbe that Helps You Lose Weight. The subjects in this blog continue in LivingTheCRWay forums and blog posts, which can be accessed by becoming a free Healthy Start member of LivingTheCRWay.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

* :

* :

* :

: