| Commercially available beer is known to contain residual low molecular weight oligosaccharides with various degrees of polymerization (DP) that originate from the degradation of beta-glucan in the barley cell wall. Over 90% of the low MW oligosaccharides generated from the breakdown of barley beta-glucan in the malting and mashing regimes comprise DP 3 and DP 4 beta-linked glucosyl residues. The oligosaccharides produced in the brewhouse survive fermentation. It was shown that they also remained intact through a static oral, gastric and small intestinal in vitro human digestive system model, indicating that the low molecular weight beta-glucan oligosaccharides found in beer should be available to beneficial organisms in the large intestine. The oligosaccharides are capable of being utilized as a substrate for large intestinal fermentation by organisms characteristic of those known to benefit human health. Thus, these results suggest that the previously used word "putative" may be omitted when describing the prebiotic capabilities of beta-glucan oligosaccharides. |
