isomaltooligosaccharides (IMO) (Kaneko et al., 1995) and
xylooligosaccharides (Crittenden and Playne, 2009) are
candidate prebiotics. The fermentation of some oligosac- charides is not as selective as that of FOS, so their pre- biotic status remains in doubt. Therefore, there is a need
for new prebiotic substances that would significantly and
selectively stimulate the growth of lactic acid bacteria,
while not being fermented, or only slightly so, by oth- er intestinal bacteria, some of which are pathogenic. The
search for functional foods or functional food ingredi- ents is undoubtedly one of the leading trends in today’s
food industry.
Promising sources of prebiotics are starch produc