Food Bioactive Oligosaccharides, Polysaccharides and Exopolysaccharides, Their Health Functions and Implications in Food Industry

Dear Colleagues,

Dietary nondigestible polysaccharides such as nondigestible oligosaccharides (NDOs) are of extreme importance for gut microbiota, which degrade them and produce beneficial metabolites for human health.

The most studied ones, galacto-oligosaccharides (GOSs) and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOSs), are polymers with different degrees of polymerization, and the spectrum of oligosaccharides (OSHs) is directly correlated with the source of the enzymes used for the biocatalytic reaction.

Potential health benefits include a reduction in dysbiosis (intestinal transit disorders), cardiovascular disease, cancer, the regulation of the immune response, as well as the reduction in serum cholesterol levels.

Oligosaccharides, polysaccharides and exopolysaccharides are of great interest as favorable candidates for food grade expression systems such as synbiotic, metabiotic and postbiotic formulations such as nutraceuticals, functional foods or functional food ingredients.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), granted as being ‘generally recognized as safe’ (GRAS), produce extracellular polysaccharides or exopolysaccharides (EPSs) that play a crucial commercial role due to their industrial food physico-chemical properties, improving the rheology, texture and fermented product flavor and granting beneficial health effects, such as anticarcinogenic, immunostimulatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic and cholesterol-lowering properties. For this reason, EPSS represent an important food bioactive ingredient in the functional food design.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present recent advancements in the production, utilization and impact of all the mentioned saccharides on human health and their implications and utilization in the food industry.

Dr. Oana Lelia Pop
Prof. Dr. Ramona Suharoschi
Guest Editors

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• bioactive oligosaccharides
• human milk oligosaccharides
• chitosan oligosaccharides fructo-oligosaccharides
• polysaccharides
• exopolysaccharides
• gut microbiota
• functional foods
• nutrigenomics