Abstract
Prebiotic oligosaccharides are increasingly demanded within the Food Science domain because of the interesting healthy properties that these compounds may induce to the organism, thanks to their beneficial intestinal microbiota growth promotion ability. In this regard, the development of new efficient, convenient and affordable methods to obtain this class of compounds might expand even further their use as functional ingredients. This review presents an overview on the most recent interesting approaches to synthesize lactose-derived oligosaccharides with potential prebiotic activity paying special focus on the microbial glycoside hydrolases that can be effectively employed to obtain these prebiotic compounds. The most notable advantages of using lactose-derived carbohydrates such as lactosucrose, galactooligosaccharides from lactulose, lactulosucrose and 2-α-glucosyl-lactose are also described and commented.
Highlights
Since Gibson and Roberfroid introduced the concept of prebiotics as non-digestible oligosaccharides that reach the colon without being hydrolyzed and are selectively metabolized by health-positive bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli (Gibson and Roberfroid, 1995), there is a growing consumer interest in functional foods containing this class of compounds
There are a wide range of emerging potential prebiotics demanding robust data from human studies to be included in the world prebiotic market along with lactulose and galactooligosaccharides (GOS), both obtained from lactose, being two of the most widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries
A waste product of the cheese industry obtained by ultrafiltration of cheese whey, contains most of the lactose originally present in milk and has a high biological oxygen demand (BOD), thereby depleting the dissolved oxygen content of the receiving water
Summary
Prebiotic oligosaccharides are increasingly demanded within the Food Science domain because of the interesting healthy properties that these compounds may induce to the organism, thanks to their beneficial intestinal microbiota growth promotion ability. In this regard, the development of new efficient, convenient and affordable methods to obtain this class of compounds might expand even further their use as functional ingredients. This review presents an overview on the most recent interesting approaches to synthesize lactose-derived oligosaccharides with potential prebiotic activity paying special focus on the microbial glycoside hydrolases that can be effectively employed to obtain these prebiotic compounds. The most notable advantages of using lactose-derived carbohydrates such as lactosucrose, galactooligosaccharides from lactulose, lactulosucrose and 2-α-glucosyl-lactose are described and commented
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
