Oral Health and Dental Management

Effect of fructans with different degree of polymerization and structure on growth of selected probiotic strains and formation of short chain fatty acids

17^th World Congress on Oral Care and Probiotics

November 14-16, 2016 Orlando, USA

M Mueller, H Viernstein, R Loeppert and W Praznik

University of Vienna, Austria

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Oral Health Dent Manag

Abstract:

Fructans are well known prebiotics which are accumulated by a great variety of plants. The influence of structure and polymerization degree (dp) on the prebiotic potential is not fully elucidated yet. Thus, we compared the growth of selected probiotic strains and their formation of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) with fructans from different sources related to diverse structures such as un-branched inulin-type (only �?2-1 linkages), mixed-type (combined �?2-1 and �?2-6 linkages with branching) and levans (�? 2-6 linkages) with branching. Fructans from chicory or agaves were separated into fractions of different dp using size exclusion chromatography and tested for their influence on the growth enhancement of selected probiotic strains. Furthermore, the degradation of fructooligosaccharides by probiotics and the formation of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were studied. Fructan samples with lower polymerization degree and branching induced the growth of the probiotics faster than those with higher polymerization degree. The correlation between growth induction and polymerization degree was strain dependent. The degradation process of the fructooligosaccharides by probiotics correlated well with the growth curves. Some strains grew only with fructans of low dp, some with fructans from all dp, but faster with fructans from low dp and a few strains grew fast even with higher molecular fructans. The formation of SCFAs by selected prebiotic strains or by a mixture of gut bacteria was also dependent on the polymerization degree and branching. Un-branched and branched fructans led to the formation of butyrate which plays a major role in the prevention of colon cancer and other colonic diseases. In conclusion, this study contributes to elucidate the fermentation behavior of selected prebiotic strains dependent on the molecular structure and polymerization degree of the fructans and on their formation of SCFAs; playing a major role for usage in functional food industry and pharmaceutical applications.

Biography :

Email: monika.mueller@univie.ac.at