Abstract
PurposeTo test the prebiotic activity of wheat arabinogalactan-peptide (AGP), which is a soluble dietary fibre composed of arabinogalactan polysaccharide linked to a 15-residue peptide, which accounts for up to 0.4% of the dry weight of wheat flour.MethodsThe prebiotic activity of AGP prepared from white wheat flour was tested using in vitro fermentation by colonic bacteria in automated pH-controlled anaerobic stirred batch cultures and compared to fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and wheat flour arabinoxylan (AX). Bacterial populations were measured using fluorescence in situ hybridisation (flow-FISH) and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations were measured using HPLC.ResultsFermentation of AGP resulted in a significant bifidogenic activity and increased concentrations of SCFAs, mainly acetate after 24 h of fermentation.ConclusionsThese results were comparable to those obtained with AX and confirm the prebiotic potential of AGP. Furthermore, fermentation of a mixture of AGP and AX was faster compared to the single substrates and more similar to FOS, indicating that combinations of fermentable carbohydrates with different structures are potentially more effective as prebiotics than single substrates.
Highlights
Cereals are the most important source of dietary fibre (DF) in the human diet, providing about 40% of the total dietary intake in the UK, with bread contributing about half of this.A number of definitions of dietary fibre have been proposed, the most widely used being that from the CodexElectronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Alimentarius 2009 which states that “dietary fibre consists of carbohydrate polymers with 10 or more monomeric units, which are not hydrolysed by the endogenous enzymes in the small intestine”
This study aimed to determine the prebiotic potential of the soluble wheat fibre AGP
AGP isolated from wheat flour was characterised and evaluated for prebiotic activity based on increases in the populations of beneficial bacteria and in the production of Short chain fatty acids (SCFA), using in vitro batch cultures
Summary
Cereals are the most important source of dietary fibre (DF) in the human diet, providing about 40% of the total dietary intake in the UK, with bread contributing about half of this. A number of definitions of dietary fibre have been proposed, the most widely used being that from the Codex. A footnote allows national authorities to include “carbohydrates of 3–9 monomeric units” and these are usually included when considering wheat fibre. A number of studies have demonstrated that DF, and cereal DF, has health benefits including regulation of satiety and diluting the energy density of food. The addition of insoluble DF to the diet increases stool weight from fibre bulk and increases in bacteria and water holding capacity. DF has been shown to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer
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