Functional food properties of non-digestible oligosaccharides: a consensus report from the ENDO project (DGXII AIRII-CT94-1095).
This paper results from the final phase of the ENDO project (DGXII AIRII-CT94-1095), a European Commission-funded project on non-digestible oligosaccharides (NDO). All participants in the programme met to perform a consensus exercise on the possible functional food properties of NDO. Topics studied during the project (including a workshop on probiotics and prebiotics) and related aspects, for which considerable evidence has been generated recently, were evaluated on the basis of existing published scientific evidence. There was a general consensus that: (1) there is strong evidence for a prebiotic effect of NDO in human subjects. A prebiotic effect was defined as a food-induced increase in numbers and/or activity predominantly of bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria in the human large intestine; (2) there is strong evidence for the impact that NDO have on bowel habit; (3) there is promising evidence that consumption of inulin-type fructans may result in increased Ca absorption in man; (4) there are preliminary indications that inulin-type fructans interact with the functioning of lipid metabolism; (5) there is preliminary evidence in experimental animals of a preventive effect against colon cancer. Human nutrition studies are needed to substantiate these findings. It was concluded that the nutritional properties of NDO may prove to be a key issue in nutritional research in the future.
Van Loo
J
J
ORAFTI, Tienen, Belgium. jvl@rafti.eunet.be
Cummings
J
J
Delzenne
N
N
Englyst
H
H
Franck
A
A
Hopkins
M
M
Kok
N
N
Macfarlane
G
G
Newton
D
D
Quigley
M
M
Roberfroid
M
M
van Vliet
T
T
van den Heuvel
E
E
D000818:Animals; D003106:Colon / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000378:metabolism*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000378:metabolism; D005062:European Union; D005243:Feces; D005285:Fermentation; D006801:Humans; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D007414:Intestinal Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control; D008903:Minerals / Q000378:metabolism; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000378:metabolism*; D019936:Probiotics; D051381:Rats
D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004041:Dietary Fats; D008903:Minerals; D009844:Oligosaccharides