We investigated the effects of dietary oligofructose and Ca on bone structure in ovariectomized rats, using microradiography and histomorphometry. Ninety-six animals were allocated to seven experimental groups: G1, sham-operated; G2-G7, ovariectomized. Semi-purified diets containing 5 g Ca/kg (recommended content) without oligofructose (G1, G2) or with 25, 50 or 100 g oligofructose/kg (G3, G4, ...

Non-digestible oligosaccharides such as inulin and oligofructose have been shown to consistently increase calcium absorption in experimental animals, but data in humans are less clear-cut. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of 8 g/d of oligofructose or a mixture of inulin and oligofructose on calcium absorption in girls at or near menarche. A total of fifty-nine subjects were ...

Twelve dairy heifers were used to examine the clinical response of an alimentary oligofructose overload. Six animals were divided into 3 subgroups, and each was given a bolus dose of 13, 17, or 21 g/kg of oligofructose orally. The control group (n = 6) was sham-treated with tap water. Signs of lameness, cardiovascular function, and gastrointestinal function were monitored every 6 h during devel...

In rats, oligofructose has been shown to stimulate satiety hormone secretion, reduce energy intake and promote weight loss. The present study aimed to examine the effect of oligofructose supplementation on appetite profiles, satiety hormone concentrations and energy intake in human subjects. A total of thirty-one healthy subjects (ten men and twenty-one women) aged 28 (SEM 3) years with a BMI o...

Inulin and oligofructose, besides their effect on the gastro-intestinal tract, are also able to exert 'systemic' effect, namely by modifying the hepatic metabolism of lipids in several animal models. Feeding male Wistar rats on a carbohydrate-rich diet containing 10 % inulin or oligofructose significantly lowers serum triacylglycerol (TAG) and phospholipid concentrations. A lower hepatic lipoge...

BACKGROUND Rodent studies show that oligofructose promotes weight loss, stimulates satiety hormone secretion, reduces energy intake, and improves lipid profiles. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to examine the effects of oligofructose supplementation on body weight and satiety hormone concentrations in overweight and obese adults. DESIGN This study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-control...

Health and wellbeing are challenged constantly by pathogens. A number of defence mechanisms exist to protect the body from pathogen colonisation and invasion, with an important role to play for the natural intestinal bacterial flora (mainly by bifidobacteria and lactobacilli). The present paper reviews the evidence on the effects of inulin and oligofructose on colonisation and translocation of ...

Butyrate is an important substrate for maintenance of colonic health and oligofructose fermentation by human faecal bacteria can increase butyrate production in vitro. However, oligofructose appears to be fermented by mainly acetate and lactate-producing bacteria rather than butyrate-producing bacteria. Isotope labelling studies using [U-(13)C(6)]glucose were used to show that (13)C(2) and (13)...

Several nondigestible but fermentable dietary carbohydrates are able to regulate lipemia and triglyceridemia in both humans and animals. The mechanism of their serum lipid–lowering effect remains to be elucidated. Oligofructose, which is a mixture of nondigestible and fermentable fructans, can decrease triacylglycerol in VLDL when given to rats. The triacylglycerol-lowering action of oligofruct...

AIMS We assessed to what extent fructans of different degrees of polymerization (DP) differ in their prebiotic effectiveness towards in vitro microbial communities from the proximal and distal colon. METHODS AND RESULTS Two short chain fructans - oligofructose (DP 2-20) and inulin (DP 3-60) - were administered to the Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME) at 2.5 g day(-...