Isomalto-oligosaccharides: Recent insights in production technology and their use for food and medical applications | Semantic Scholar (2025)

Genetic engineering and reaction optimization enhances the production of oligosaccharides, and the development of innovative and cost-effective technologies at competitive prices becomes a national priority.

The key finding is the need for research involving biotechnological and enzymology aspects to simplify the production technologies that meet the industrial and consumer requirements of IMOs.

The objective of this work was to demonstrate, through an updated bibliographic survey, the importance of prebiotics, considering their performance in food technology, as well as their benefits in the health of their consumers.

The future of this area lies in the designing of clinical condition specific functional foods taking into consideration the host genotypes, thus facilitating the creation of balanced and required metabolome and enabling to maintain the healthy status of the host.

This review aims to highlight the potential and need of these prebiotics in the diet and also discusses data related to the distinct types, sources, modes of action, and health benefits.

Prebiotics are non-digestible oligosaccharides which are fermented in the intestine and impart health benefits such as stimulation of gut microflora, enhancing mineral absorption and host immunity, prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and lowering cholesterol levels.

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Analysis of the results with respect to digestibility suggests that the potential glycemic impact of the ingredients and products containing "industrial" IMO may be inconsistent with the product labeling and/or certificates of analysis and are thus inappropriate for diabetic patients and those on low-carbohydrate diets.

This article focuses on GOS production from synthesis to purification processes, and several microbial GH, proposed for the synthesis of GOS, are hierarchized according to the referred performance indicators.

Considering the structural complexity of IMO products, specific characterization methods are described, as well as purification methods which enable the body to get rid of digestible oligosaccharides, which enables placing IMOs inside the growing prebiotic market.

An overview of the various prebiotics available from different sources and their applications in various segments of food industry, notably dairy, beverage, processed fruit-vegetable, bakery, confectionary, extruded snack, sweetener, infant formula, pet food and livestock industry is given.

Looking at the ever-increasing demand of prebiotics, in this review, recent trends in prebiotic production from new novel sources, from food industrial wastes,Prebiotic supplementation in food, commercially available prebiosis agents, pre biotic production by various techniques and future perspectives has been discussed.

Lack of difference in glycemic response, with no impact on breath hydrogen and intestinal tolerance, demonstrates that IMO is digestible and can be used to replace sugars in product formulations.

The review explains the concept of probiotics and discusses the established microbes like lactobacilli and bifidobacteria and some emerging new candidates and the global market trend for probiotics with related aspect of business how patents can be leveraged as business tool to create monopoly and secure future business.

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