Sugar is a favorite thing of people, but the hidden danger of eating too much sugar in modern society is more concerned. But "oligosaccharides" are "heretics" - although there is "sugar" in the name, they are often sold as health products, claiming to have various disease prevention and treatment functions. What kind of sugar is oligosaccharide?
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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > what oligosaccharides are</h1>
Carbohydrates are essential nutrients, and their basic building blocks are called "simple sugars."
Carbon atoms, hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms are assembled in different ways to form different monosaccharides. The most common monosaccharide is glucose, and fructose and galactose are also common.
Different monosaccharides can also be connected to each other.
Many of these glucose junctions form sugar polymers called starches, and polymers linked together by many different monosaccharides are called dietary fibers. Although starch and fiber are polysaccharide polymers, the difference is that starch can be absorbed by the human body, but because there is no enzyme for hydrolyzed fiber in the human body, dietary fiber cannot be absorbed.
If the dietary fiber is hydrolyzed, fragments of different sizes can be obtained. Fragments composed of 2 to 10 monosaccharides are called "oligosaccharides" because of the low degree of polymerization. "Oligosaccharides" can be extracted from natural foods, or they can be synthesized using starch and disaccharides (such as sucrose) using biochemical technologies and enzyme reactions.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > not all oligosaccharides can be called prebiotics</h1>
There are two types of oligosaccharides.
One is ordinary oligosaccharides, such as sucrose, lactose, maltose, etc.
The second is functional oligosaccharides, including sudra, raffinose, fructooligosaccharides, xylose oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides and the like. There is no enzyme system in the human gastrointestinal system that can hydrolyze these oligosaccharides, so they are not digested and absorbed and directly enter the large intestine, playing a unique physiological function. What is commonly referred to as oligosaccharide refers to this functional oligosaccharide that cannot be digested and absorbed.
Probiotics and prebiotics
There are a variety of bacteria in the large intestine that can be broken down and utilized in soluble dietary fiber. Different bacteria have different preferences for different oligosaccharides and produce different metabolites.
Some bacteria are able to produce small molecule substances that are beneficial to the human body, called "probiotics".
If a substance is very beneficial to the bacteria but not liked by the "bad bacteria", they help to support the probiotics. Such substances are called "prebiotics".
Prebiotics must meet three conditions
(1) It is not digested and absorbed and reaches the large intestine intact;
(2) Mainly used by probiotics and not by "bad bacteria";
(3) It can bring visible positive effects to human health.
Among the various oligosaccharides, there are three kinds of "prebiotics" that are more recognized by the scientific community so far, namely fructooligosaccharides (FOS), galactose oligosaccharides (GOS) and inulin (INULIN). That is to say, "prebiotics" are functional oligosaccharides, but not all oligosaccharides can be called prebiotics.
There are many products on the market called "oligosaccharides", and some products can meet some of the requirements of "prebiotics". Merchants often put the functions of other oligosaccharides on their own products, which can actually be counted as false propaganda.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > what are the benefits of eating oligosaccharides</h1>
Promotes the proliferation of Bifidobacterium
The more bifidobacteria in a person's intestine, the better, and the fewer harmful bacteria such as Clostridium difficile, the better. After oligosaccharides are ingested by the human body, they are utilized by bifidobacteria in the large intestine, which promotes the rapid proliferation of bifidobacteria, regulates the intestinal flora, and inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria. Studies have shown that adults who consume 5 to 8 grams of prebiotics per day can achieve 1,000 times the number of bifidobacteria per gram of feces after two weeks, while the total number of Clostridium difficile is reduced by 81%.
Inhibits pathogenic bacteria and diarrhea
Both ingestion of oligosaccharides and bifidobacteria inhibit pathogens and diarrhea. Bifidobacterium fermented oligosaccharides produce short-chain fatty acids (mainly acetic acid and lactic acid) and some antimicrobial substances, which can inhibit the growth and reproduction of exogenous pathogenic bacteria and putrefactive bacteria inherent in the intestine.
Promotes synthetic vitamins
Oligosaccharides promote the natural synthesis of vitamins such as B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin, and folic acid in the intestines of Bifidobacterium, but not vitamin K. And enhance the bifidobacterium fermented dairy products in the lactose, so that it is converted into lactic acid, to solve the human body's lactose tolerance problem, so that dairy products are more easily digested and absorbed by the human body.
Promotes absorption of minerals
Oligosaccharides promote the lactic acid produced by the fermentation of lactose by Bifidobacterium, which can dissolve minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron in the intestine, and promote the absorption of minerals by the human body. At the same time, it can reduce the activity of β-glucosidase, reduce the production of harmful poisons in the intestine and promote excretion, and play a role in "clearing the intestine" as called "intestinal cleansing" in Chinese medicine.
Suitable for people who are losing weight and diabetics
Oligosaccharides are difficult to be broken down by enzymes in the digestive tract and are difficult to digest and absorb by the human body. According to the measurement, its calorific value is below 1.5 calories / g. Therefore, the human body does not cause obesity after ingestion. Oligosaccharides are suitable for diabetics, such as fructooligosaccharides as sweet as sucrose, and after eating, they will not cause blood sugar growth.
Prevents constipation
Bifidobacterium fermented oligosaccharides produce a large number of short-chain fatty acids, which can stimulate intestinal peristalsis, increase fecal wetness and maintain a certain osmotic pressure, preventing constipation.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > summary</h1>
For most people, there is not much need to buy oligosaccharides as health supplements. Oligosaccharides and dietary fiber with similar functions naturally exist in many vegetables and fruits, as long as you pay attention to a reasonable diet and comprehensive nutrition, you can take it from a normal diet.
At present, there is also a kind of micro-ecological food on the market called synbiosis, also known as syncytine. Refers to the combination of probiotics and prebiotics, or the addition of vitamins, trace elements, etc., which can not only exert the physiological activity of probiotics, but also selectively and rapidly increase the number of probiotics, so that the probiotic effect is more significant and lasting.
(Text/Dr. Luo Qin, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University)
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