Prebiotic scores
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Prebiotics are nutrients of human microbial organ. They are non-digestible oligosaccharides that can stimulate selectively the growth of probiotic-like bacteria normally present in the gut. Prebiotics cover all carbohydrates of relatively short chain length that must effectively reach the cecum.
Certain substances like resistant starch and non-starch polysaccharides might perform similar role. The value of prebiotics is not only restricted to probiotic-like bacteria normally present in the gut but also to the bacteria actually present in the probiotic food supplements. Certain substances like Bifidus factor present in the human milk also conform to the definition of prebiotics.
Summarily, the word prebiotics is like vitamins where the total of definite actions of a specified substance, nutrient or food, determine the value. The expected action, as far as prebiotics are concerned, is the growth of particular beneficial bacteria. There are no standard tables for food composition or requirement of the host species, for prebiotics. This has hampered the application of this concept and the production of the clear-cut evidence required for the functionality of the foods.
The indigestible residue of the food may be obtained after in vitro digestion of the food under standard condition or as the stool of a model germ-free laboratory animal. This residue may further be used as a substrate for the growth of individual bacteria (e.g. Lactobacillus rhamnosus score, Bifidobacterium bifidum score, Streptococcus thermophilus score etc of a particular prebiotics) and also for the defined set of bacteria as consortia useful in particular action of the food.
The prebiotics scores i.e. the amount of growth of the bacteria under predefined conditions, thus obtained would be useful to nutritionists and dieticians for determining the requirement of a host species for these nutrients and balancing the food for a particular functionality e.g. prevention of rotavirus diarrhea or for maintenance of optimal Nugent Score of the vagina.
