Pre­bi­otics – a del­i­cacy for healthy gut bac­te­ria

Pre­bi­otics are in­di­gestible, fer­mentable poly­sac­cha­ridesand oligosac­cha­rides or car­bo­hy­drates that are made up of sev­eral mono­sac­cha­rides (sim­ple sug­ars) which can be the same or dif­fer­ent. Pre­bi­otics are the nu­tri­tional basis for healthy gut bac­te­ria. Bi­fi­dobac­te­ria, which in­habit the gut in larger num­bers, pre­fer oligosac­cha­rides.

Breast milk con­tains many water sol­u­ble oligosac­cha­rides. En­hanc­ing baby foods with oligosac­cha­rides like GOS and FOS makes sense:

GOS: These are galacto-oligosac­cha­rides which are pro­duced from lac­tose with the help of en­zymes.

FOS: These be­long to the fruc­tooligosac­cha­rides which are de­rived from plants.

Fer­mentable poly­sac­cha­ride and oligosac­cha­rides are mainly found in oats, bar­ley, fruit and vege­tables.