Prebiotic Properties of Non-Fructosylated α-Galactooligosaccharides from PEA ( L.) Using Infant Fecal Slurries.

The interest for naturally-occurring oligosaccharides from plant origin having prebiotic properties is growing, with special focus being paid to supplemented products for infants. Currently, non-fructosylated α-galactooligosaccharides (α-GOS) from peas have peaked interest as a result of their prebiotic activity in adults and their mitigated side-effects on gas production from colonic bacterial fermentation. In this study, commercially available non-fructosylated α-GOS from peas and β-galactooligosaccharides (β-GOS) derived from lactose were fermented using fecal slurries from children aged 11 to 24 months old during 6 and 24 h.

The cytotoxic effect of Bowman-Birk isoinhibitors, IBB1 and IBBD2, from soybean (Glycine max) on HT29 human colorectal cancer cells is related to their intrinsic ability to inhibit serine proteases.

Bowman-Birk inhibitors (BBI) from soybean and related proteins are naturally occurring protease inhibitors with potential health-promoting properties within the gastrointestinal tract. In this work, we have investigated the effects of soybean BBI proteins on HT29 colon adenocarcinoma cells, compared with non-malignant colonic fibroblast CCD-18Co cells. Two major soybean isoinhibitors, IBB1 and IBBD2, showing considerable amino acid sequence divergence within their inhibitory domains, were purified in order to examine their functional properties, including their individual effects on the proliferation of HT29 colon cancer cells.