Synbiotics

There is an increasing appreciation of the role beneficial bacteria play in the health of humans. As a result, probiotics have become one of the hottest categories of nutritional supplements and an area ripe for further innovation and advances.

Prebiotics, typically referred to as food for probiotic organisms, are one such area. The first generation of prebiotic ingredients (e.g. fructooligosaccharides, FOS) consisted of fibers indigestible by humans, but preferentially fermented by beneficial bacteria.

New work has expanded the functional potential of prebiotic ingredients. In addition to providing fermentable media to feed beneficial bacteria, it is now recognized that substances other than purified fibers can help good bacteria thrive in other ways. For example, Glycostat® not only favorably influences the survival of common beneficial organisms found in the human intestines, but also works in concert with these organisms to beneficially impact larger health concerns in the body.

Glycostat® is significantly unique in this regard such that it has been featured in a pair of foreign patent applications filed by Greengo Biomedical International (Taiwan) – Taiwan Patent (6663-001ATW) and Chinese Patent (6663-001ACN). These two applications cover the use of Glycostat® as a 5synbiotic with common probiotic organisms such as Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Streptococcus thermophlius, Lactobacillus paracasei, and Lactobacillus fermentum for lowering body weight and improving the binding and excretion of cholesterol.