In vitro fermentation of non-digestible oligosaccharides; a method to determine effects on “prebiotic index"

The “as eaten” method to measure the Total Dietary Fibre content and an in vitro fermentation with colon bacteria were successfully coupled to see if fibre fractions have a prebiotic effect. Similar growth pattern for modified starch, FOS and GOS were observed (Fig A). The qPCR results indicate a significant stimulation of the growth of gut bacteria by FOS and GOS and in lesser extent by the modified starch (Fig.C). Future experiments will compare the qPCR data with metagenomic analysis of in vitro and in vivo experiments.