Production of impure prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides and their effect on calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc absorption in Sprague-Dawley rats

Abstract

Prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) are important “functional foods” of current scenario and used for various health benefits including improved mineral absorption. In the present study, it was hypothesized that novel GOS mixture, produced through transgalactosylation, with significant amount of mono and disaccharides may enhance mineral absorption in Sprague-Dawley rats. The non-purified GOS having β-(1→6) and β-(1→3) glycosidic linkage, were evaluated for apparent absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc. The rats were divided into two main groups (n=12 per group, 6 male/6 female) fed on control and GOS (5g/100g) diet. The feces were collected after 7days interval for 28days. The weight gain, feed and water intake were statistically similar (p<0.05) in both groups irrespective of gender. Similarly, the absorption of minerals was statistically not different in both genders during whole study. The GOS diet significantly (p<0.05) improved absorption of Ca (34.55–39.93%), Mg (51.22–58.05%) and Fe (31.58–39.21%) as compared to control diet at the end of study. However, no impact on Zn absorption was observed during the whole study. It can be inferred that the use of non-purified GOS for 3–4 weeks may enhance Ca, Mg and Fe absorption.