Wheat bran derived arabinoxylan-oligosaccharides: a novel prebiotic concept?

Prebiotics were initially defined as non-digestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon, and thus improve host health. A recent refinement of this definition maintains that prebiotics are selectively fermented ingredients allowing specific changes, both in the composition and/or activity in the gastrointestinal microflora that confer benefits upon host well-being and health. The most studied prebiotics are the fructans inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides. Over the past years, we used a multidisciplinary approach to study the properties of arabinoxylan-oligosaccharides (AXOS) as novel prebiotics. We here report on a pilot scale process for extraction of AXOS from wheat bran, and on studies pointing to their prebiotic effects in chickens, rats as well as in humans. © Wageningen Academic Publishers The Netherlands, 2010.status: publishe