Inulin and oligofructose are functional food ingredients which offer a unique combination of nutritional properties and important technological benefits. They are found in many vegetables and fruits and can be industrially obtained from chicory roots. In food formulations, inulin and oligofructose may significantly improve organoleptic characteristics. Their incorporation allows upgrading of both taste and mouthfeel in a wide range of food applications. Oligofructose is highly soluble and possesses technological properties that are closely related to those of sugar and glucose syrups. It is often used in combination with high intensity sweeteners. Inulin has a much lower solubility, improves the stability of foams and emulsions and shows exceptional fat-like characteristics when used under the form of a gel in water. Fat and carbohydrate replacement with chicory inulin and oligofructose offers the advantage of not compromising on taste and texture, while delivering nutritionally enhanced products.

Breast-feeding is the golden standard for infant feeding. However, the majority of a few week old infants are fed with a second choice infant feeding, cow's milk based formula. Amongst the multiple differences between human and cow's milk regards the development of the gastro-intestinal flora: the flora of the breast-fed infant being richer in bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. Both species are known to be potentially beneficial for the health of the host. The absence of oligosaccharides, the third largest component in human milk, in cow's milk is likely to account for the differences in colonic flora. The oligosaccharide content and concentration in breast milk is — just as for the other macronutrients — a dynamic process, making it impossible for industry to mimic nature. However, if the composition cannot be mimicked, the effect and function can be imitated. The addition of two oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides and inulin, to cow's milk based infant formula has been shown to have a bifidogenic effect, and to stimulate the growth of bifidi and lactobacilli. In conclusion, the addition of oligosaccharides to cow's milk based infant formula brings this alternative, second choice infant feeding one step closer to the golden standard of human milk. But, prolonged breast-feeding should still be promoted with maximum effort.

Prebiotics may be considered as functional food ingredients. They are attracting considerable interest from pet owners, pet food manufacturers, livestock producers and feed manufacturers. The most common forms of prebiotics are nondigestible oligosaccharides (NDO), including inulin, oligofructose mannanoligosaccharides, gluco-oligosaccharides, and galacto-oligosaccharides. These NDO are nondigestible by enzymes present in the mammalian small intestine, but are fermented by bacteria present in the hindgut of nonruminants. Inulin and oligofructose are present in measurable quantities in feed ingredients like wheat, wheat by-products, barley, and peanut hulls. Consumption of prebiotic oligosaccharides elicits several purported health benefits. In companion animals, prebiotics have been shown to improve gut microbial ecology and enhance stool quality. In production livestock and poultry, prebiotics are employed to control pathogenic bacteria, reduce faecal odour, and enhance growth performance. Research to date indicates positive effects of prebiotics on health status and performance of companion animals, livestock, and poultry.

Providing sufficient scientific data to be able to make ‘health related claims’ on foods is quite a challenge. But bringing these claims successfully to the consumer is perhaps an even bigger challenge. Especially when the claims are based on the function of the intestinal tract, as this is a subject that not everybody communicates easily about. In our consumer research, we have focused on how the new consumer thinks and talks about gut health. We found out that he is aware of the existence and the importance of gut microflora. He believes that foods can influence his own flora. At the same time, our research has tested the efficiency of several ways to communicate about these aspects. The consumer reacts quite differently on different marketing concepts. He accepts that natural ingredients can help his gut flora and expects to find such active ingredients in common everyday foods and also in diet supplements. Based on this research, we have condensed the ‘prebiotic’ message about inulin and oligofructose into a number of simple communications. The best of these were selected for further consumer product testing. The results of this effort form the basis of the BENEO® Programme: a communication platform created by ORAFTI that allows the food industry, in partnership with ORAFTI, to bring a uniform and clear message to the consumer about the health benefits of inulin and oligofructose.

A huge number of genes within the human genome code for proteins that mediate and/or control nutritional processes. Although a large body of information on the number of genes, on chromosomal localisation, gene structure and function has been gathered, we are far from understanding the orchestrated way of how they make metabolism. Nevertheless, based on the genetic information emerging on a daily basis, we are offered fantastic new tools that allow us new insights into the molecular basis of human metabolism under normal as well as pathophysiological conditions. Recent technological advancements have made it possible to analyse simultaneously large sets of mRNA and/or proteins expressed in a biological sample or to define genetic heterogeneity that may be important for the individual response of an organism to changes in its nutritional environment. Applications of the new techniques of genome and proteome analysis are central for the development of nutritional sciences in the next decade and its integration into the rapidly developing era of functional genomics.