Our intestine is lined with intestinal flora, made up of billions of bacteria. Among these, probiotics may play an important role in the fight against certain diseases. Alongside them, we are beginning to better understand prebiotics, the health benefits of which may turn out to be just as decisive in coming years.  Let us take a closer look at some of these: isomaltooligosaccharides.

In some respects, our digestive system resembles a jungle where billions of living things permanently thrive. This is particularly the case of the colon, which hosts a multitude of specific bacteria: bifidobacteria and lactobacteria. These are the main members of a group of positive bacteria under the generic term ‘probiotics’ which are likely to have a beneficial effect on our health. For at least twenty years, companies in the food industry have extolled the advantages of “Yakult”, “Actimel” and other probiotic-enriched lactose drinks. On the condition that they are consumed as part of a balanced diet, these drinks may improve intestinal well-being and may even contribute to preventing certain diseases.

Over the years, research laboratories have enabled us to better identify the way in which these probiotics act. Not only do they colonise the intestine and hence reduce the space taken up by pathogenic bacteria, they also produce volatile fatty acids which create an environment which is even more favourable to positive bacteria, with a positive effect on the metabolism. This all has a beneficial effect on the body.

But there is a snag: probiotics are living bacteria. It is not always easy to select them from the tens of thousands of known strains of bacteria and preserve them on an industrial scale. It is even more difficult to move them safely to the place where they are to act: the large intestine. In fact, in order to reach this essential link in the digestive system, they have to overcome various obstacles including gastric acid, biliary salts, digestive enzymes, etc.

Prebiotics do not, as a rule, have these disadvantages. These are for the most part saccharides – oligosaccharides and polysaccharides – which have the advantages of resisting enzymatic decomposition and crossing the small intestine with little or no “damage”. Arriving practically intact in the large intestine, they can thus be selectively fermented by probiotics, which stimulate their proliferation, to the detriment of bad bacteria.