Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Mar 15:22:101289.
doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2024.101289. eCollection 2024 Jun 30.

Preparation, structural characterization, biological activity, and nutritional applications of oligosaccharides

Ya-Jing Chen  1 , Xin Sui  2 , Yue Wang  1 , Zhi-Hui Zhao  1 , Tao-Hong Han  1 , Yi-Jun Liu  1 , Jia-Ning Zhang  1 , Ping Zhou  3 , Ke Yang  1   4 , Zhi-Hong Ye  1
Affiliations
Review

Preparation, structural characterization, biological activity, and nutritional applications of oligosaccharides

Ya-Jing Chen et al. Food Chem X. .

Abstract

Oligosaccharides are low-molecular-weight carbohydrates between monosaccharides and polysaccharides. They can be extracted directly from natural products by physicochemical methods or obtained by chemical synthesis or enzymatic reaction. Oligosaccharides have important physicochemical and physiological properties. Their research and production involve many disciplines such as medicine, chemical industry, and biology. Functional oligosaccharides, as an excellent functional food base, can be used as dietary fibrer and prebiotics to enrich the diet; improve the microecology of the gut; exert antitumour, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and lipid-lowering properties. Therefore, the industrial applications of oligosaccharides have increased rapidly in the past few years. It has great prospects in the field of food and medicinal chemistry. This review summarized the preparation, structural features and biological activities of oligosaccharides, with particular emphasis on the application of functional oligosaccharides in the food industry and human nutritional health. It aims to inform further research and development of oligosaccharides and food chemistry.

Keywords: Bioactivity; Food nutrition; Functional oligosaccharides; Medicinal health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Yang Ke reports financial support was provided by Ke.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Classification of sugars.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bioactivity mechanism of chitosan. Notes: peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), CCAAT enhancer-binding alpha protein (C/EBPα), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), B-cell lymphoma (Bax), B-lymphoblastoma-2 gene (Bcl-2), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) gene family, and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Application of oligosaccharides in food nutrition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ambrogi V., Bottacini F., Cao L., Kuipers B., Schoterman M., van Sinderen D. Galacto-oligosaccharides as infant prebiotics: Production, application, bioactive activities and future perspectives. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 2023;63(6):753–766. - PubMed
    1. Ambrogi V., Bottacini F., O'Callaghan J., Casey E., van Breen J., Schoemaker B., Cao L., Kuipers B., O'Connell Motherway M., Schoterman M., van Sinderen D. Infant-associated bifidobacterial β-galactosidases and their ability to synthesize galacto-oligosaccharides. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2021;12 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arnold J.W., Roach J., Fabela S., Moorfield E., Ding S., Blue E., Dagher S., Magness S., Tamayo R., Bruno-Barcena J.M., Azcarate-Peril M.A. The pleiotropic effects of prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides on the aging gut. Microbiome. 2021;9(1):31. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bai R., Cui F., Li W., Wang Y., Wang Z., Gao Y., Wang N., Xu Q., Hu F., Zhang Y. Codonopsis pilosula oligosaccharides modulate the gut microbiota and change serum metabolomic profiles in high-fat diet-induced obese mice. Food & Function. 2022;13(15):8143–8157. - PubMed
    1. Bai H., Wang J., Phan C.U., Chen Q., Hu X., Shao G., Zhou J., Lai L., Tang G. Cyclodextrin-based host-guest complexes loaded with regorafenib for colorectal cancer treatment. Nature Communications. 2021;12(1):759. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources