title: Dietary prebiotic oligosaccharides are detectable in the faeces of formula-fed infants.
abstract: Human milk oligosaccharides are not digested during intestinal passage and can be detected in stools. In this study it was investigated whether a prebiotic mixture of low-molecular-weight galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and high-molecular-weight fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) can be detected in stool samples of formula-fed infants. The test formula was supplemented with 0.8 g/dl oligosaccharides (GOS+FOS). In the control formula, maltodextrins were used as placebo. Fecal flora was assessed at the beginning (day 1) and at the end of a 28-d feeding period (day 2). At day 2 the content of galacto- and fructo-oligosaccharides in the stool samples were measured. On study day 1, the number of bifidobacteria was not different among the groups (supplemented group: 7.7 (6.2) CFU/g; placebo group: 8.0 (6.0) CFU/g). At the end of the 28-d feeding period, the number of bifidobacteria was significantly higher in the group fed the supplemented formula when compared to placebo (supplemented group: 9.8 (0.7) CFU/g stool; placebo group: 7.1 (4.7) CFU/g stool; p<0.001). In all infants fed the supplemented formula, GOS and FOS could be identified in the stool samples. That was not the case in infants fed the non-supplemented formula.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present data confirm the bifidogenicity of oligosaccharides and indicate that dietary galacto-oligosaccharides and long chain fructo-oligosaccharides remain during the whole passage in the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract, similarly to human milk oligosaccharides.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Infant Nutrition, Macedonio Melloni Maternity Hospital, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Guido E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Moro
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stahl
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fanaro
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jelinek
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boehm
authors.forename: Giovanni V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Coppa
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D041943:Infant Formula / Q000737:chemistry*; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; C116580:fructooligosaccharide