Functional food properties of non-digestible oligosaccharides: a consensusreport from the ENDO project (DGXII AIRII-CT94-1095)

This paper results from the final phase of the ENDO project (DGXII AIRII-CT 94-1095), a European Commission-funded project on non-digestible oligosacch arides (NDO). All participants in the programme met to perform a consensus exercise on the possible functional food properties of NDO. Topics studied during the project (including a workshop on probiotics and prebiotics) and related aspects, for which considerable evidence has been generated recentl y, were evaluated on the basis of existing published scientific evidence. T here was a general consensus that: (1) there is strong evidence for a prebi otic effect of NDO in human subjects. A prebiotic effect was defined as a f ood-induced increase in numbers and/or activity predominantly of bifidobact eria and lactic acid bacteria in the human large intestine; (2) there is st rong evidence for the impact that NDO have on bowel habit; (3) there is pro mising evidence that consumption of inulin-type fructans may result in incr eased Ca absorption in man; (4) there are preliminary indications that inul in-type fructans interact with the functioning of lipid metabolism; (5) the re is preliminary evidence in experimental animals of a preventive effect a gainst colon cancer. Human nutrition studies are needed to substantiate the se findings, it was concluded that the nutritional properties of NDO may pr ove to be a key issue in nutritional research in the future.