With the popularization of the concept of health, people have increasingly realized the significance of health to life, and major cities have begun to plan and develop big health industry clusters. The health industry is booming, covering many production and service fields that are closely related to human health, such as medical care, health care, and food. Many industries have begun to truly realize that the cause of health is a common responsibility of all mankind.

When it comes to human health, an inevitable topic is the intake of carbohydrates, or the intake of sugar. With the improvement of people's living standards, great changes have taken place in people's diet structure, excessive intake of high-calorie, especially sugar-containing foods, more and more people with three highs（hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure, high blood sugar）, and the incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are increasing year by year. It seems to have become a major hidden danger affecting human health. How to change this situation has become a problem faced by enterprises.

Isomalto-oligosaccharide (IMO) is a kind of starch sugar, which refers to a type of oligosaccharides with a monosaccharide index of 2-5, which are bound by α-1,6 glycosidic bonds between glucose molecules. It mainly includes isomaltose, panose, isomaltotriose and oligosaccharides above tetrasaccharide. Industrially, starch is used as raw material to produce IMO by using α-glucosidase (glucosyltransferase). There are four products in two forms of syrup and powder, namely IMO50, 90 liquid and IMO50, 90 powder.

Physicochemical properties of IMO.

IMO is completely water soluble, has a soft sweet taste, and its sweetness is as low as 40-50% of that of sucrose. It has moderate viscosity, slightly higher than the same concentration of sucrose solution, lower than maltose, easier to handle than maltose in food processing. It has good acid and heat resistance, and contains reducing groups in the molecule, which can undergo Maillard reaction and be colored. IMO also has good moisture retention and prevents starch aging, which can prolong the shelf life of baked goods. IMO is difficult to be utilized by yeast lactic acid bacteria, and its function can be maintained by adding it to fermented food. In addition, it has high tolerance (2g/kg weight/day) and high application safety.

Physiological functions of IMO.

Non-cariogenic properties: It is difficult to be used by streptococci to produce acid; when used together with sucrose, it will strongly inhibit the synthesis of insoluble glucan, prevent the formation of tartar, prevent tooth decay bacteria from attaching and multiplying, and will not cause dental caries.

Regulating intestinal flora and relaxing bowel: Studies have shown that 5% IMO has a significant effect on the proliferation of Bifidobacterium bifurcation, Bifidobacterium infantis and Lactobacillus acidophilus. A clinical study on elderly people with a history of chronic constipation showed that daily intake of 10g IMO can reduce the average serum sodium of the experimenters, increase the frequency of defecation, the wet weight of feces and the number of bacteria and effectively improve constipation without side effects.

Low calorie, no increase in blood sugar: The caloric energy of IMO is only 1/6 of that of sucrose. IMO is difficult to be decomposed and absorbed by digestive enzymes, it is not absorbed in the stomach, and all of it enters the intestinal tract. Eating it will neither increase blood sugar nor change blood insulin levels, and is suitable for obese and diabetic patients.

Capable of the function of water-soluble dietary fiber: As a non-digestible oligosaccharide, it can exert various effects of dietary fiber in the body after ingestion. Compared with other dietary fibers, the intake of IMO is lower and has a certain sweet taste, completely water-soluble, little impact on product quality, easy to be added.

Promoting mineral absorption, improving immunity and anti-cancer: IMO can promote the growth of bifidobacteria, and the current bifidobacteria have clear effects, which can promote mineral absorption and produce vitamin B group. Bifidobacterium cells, cell wall substances and intercellular substances can significantly improve the body's autoimmunity and can play an anticancer role.

New explorations in application of IMO.

In the past, IMO was paid attention to by the public because of its "bifidobacterium promoting factor", and it was more used in the production of health care products. However, the function was declared with a small amount of addition or even no addition, but the actual effect was not reflected. In addition, the popularization and publicity of the function of IMO is not in place, the public's understanding of the "bifidobacterium promoting factor" is not enough, and the willingness to buy is not strong.

With reference to the new trends in the fields of food, nutrition and health released by major organizations in recent years, the popularity of "sugar-reduced sugar-free", "carbohydrates" and "probiotics" has not diminished, firmly occupying the hot list. Thanks to its multiple physical, chemical and physiological properties, IMO is more or less related to these entries. Under the guidance of the trend, more functional and application exploration of IMO is needed to promote the development of IMO market.

From the current point of view, IMO has been applied to the fields of food, beverages, and health products, but the market awareness of IMO products is relatively low, and its application in our country is limited. In the future, with the in-depth research on IMO and the breakthrough of domestic IMO production process, the application in downstream fields will continue to be explored in depth, and there will be better development prospects in the future.