The Characteristics and Physiological Functions of XOS Oligosaccharide

Ⅰ. The definition and characteristics of XOS oligosaccharide

The XOS oligosaccharide is also known as oligose. It is a kind of functional polymeric sugar composed of 2-7 xylose molecules combined with β-1,4 glycosidic bonds.

1. XOS oligosaccharide is difficult to be decomposed by human digestive enzymes. Digestion experiments with saliva, gastric juice, pancreatic juice, and small intestinal enzyme juice show that almost all kinds of digestive juices cannot decompose XOS oligosaccharide, which neither affects the blood sugar concentration nor increase the insulin level in blood sugar.

And it will not form fat deposits, so it can play a role in low-energy foods, and meet the requirements of those who love desserts but are worried about blood sugar and gaining weight. Therefore, diabetics and obese patients can eat with confidence.

2. Good acid and thermal stability. Compared with other functional oligosaccharides, an outstanding feature of the XOS oligosaccharide is good stability, high heat resistance, and acid resistance.

XOS oligosaccharide is stable in a wide pH range of 2.5-8.0. Heating at 100°C for 1 hour in this pH range hardly decomposes. Therefore, XOS oligosaccharides can be widely used in foods.

3. The effective intake is low. Compared with other functional oligosaccharides, the effective daily intake of XOS oligosaccharides is the smallest, only 0.7-1.4g.

Ⅱ. Physiological functions of XOS oligosaccharide

Hundreds of millions of bacteria live in the human intestines and body surface. There are more than 400 kinds of bacteria, weighing up to two kilograms. Bacteria that are harmful to humans are called harmful bacteria. Bacteria that are beneficial to humans are called probiotics. There are also conditional pathogens between harmful bacteria and probiotics.

XOS oligosaccharides are one of the most powerful varieties of polysaccharides for proliferating bifidobacteria. The efficacy of XOS oligosaccharides is nearly 20 times that of other polysaccharides. There is no enzyme in the human gastrointestinal tract to hydrolyze XOS oligosaccharide. So XOS oligosaccharide can enter the large intestine directly and preferentially be used by bifidobacteria.

At the same time, it produces a variety of organic acids, lowers the pH of the intestine, inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria, and enables probiotics to proliferate in the intestine to achieve the above-mentioned health benefits.

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