UNDERSTANDING PREBIOTICS: A REVIEW ON THEIR ROLE, BENEFITS, AND APPLICATIONS

Moubani Dutta, Piyali Das and Sayan Bhattacharyya*

ABSTRACT

Prebiotics are moieties present in food which act by various means to increase levels of probiotic bacteria in the human gut. Prebiotic foods include Asparagus, sugar beet, garlic, chicory, onion, Jerusalem artichoke, wheat, honey, banana, barley, tomato, rye, soybean, banana and others. Fructooligosaccharides and galactooligosaccharides are the active components of prebiotics. Prebiotics can lead to many health benefits by enhancing levels of healthy or probiotic bacteria in gut. This review tries to address these issues.

Keywords: prebiotics, fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides.