[scientizscht (OP)]

Hello!

Do Oligosaccharides get absorbed? Do they circulate in the blood?
How do they exert their numerous health benefits like normalising diabetes, blood pressure, etc?

Thanks!

[evan_au]

Humans can digest disacharides (ie 2 sugar units joined together).

Oligosacharides consist of 3 or more sugar units joined together.
- Humans are not so capable of breaking down these polymers
- Some of them act as fiber in the diet
- Some of them come from from vegetables
- Many of them can be digested by the wider range of enzymes available in a diverse microbiome.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligosaccharide#Dietary_oligosaccharides

[scientizscht (OP)]

Humans can digest disacharides (ie 2 sugar units joined together).

Oligosacharides consist of 3 or more sugar units joined together.
- Humans are not so capable of breaking down these polymers
- Some of them act as fiber in the diet
- Some of them come from from vegetables
- Many of them can be digested by the wider range of enzymes available in a diverse microbiome.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligosaccharide#Dietary_oligosaccharides

So if they are not entering human body, how they exert their health benefits?

Also you say human body can only break down disaccharides, but I know that starch is broken down and absorbed like sugar

[chris]

Oligo means "a few"; compared with a polysaccharide, like starch, which contains thousands of glucose units, oligosaccharides are much smaller molecules containing fewer building blocks. But that doesn't mean that they will not be absorbed. As starch is broken down to release glucose, eventually it will become an oligosaccharide; the chemical bonds that hold it together are just as susceptible to hydrolysis as the rest of the starch molecule, so its constituents will still be absorbed and used in the body.

[scientizscht (OP)]

So how are the health benefits of oligosaccharides exerted?
Do they delay or prevent glucose absorption and help with diabetes?
How about low pressure?
Or they are absorbed and act through the circulation?

[evan_au]

Or are (oligosacharides) absorbed and act through the circulation?

Oligosacharides are fairly complex sugars, with 3-10 units. They are too big to fit through the wall of the digestive tract.

In fact, even simple disacharides must be broken down into even simpler monosacharides before they can be absorbed into the bloodstream. But this process of breaking down disacharides into monosacharides begins with digestive enzymes in the mouth.

Some oligosacharides (and resistant starches) can't be broken down by enzymes in the mouth, stomach or small intestine.
- These must pass into the large intestine (this takes longer for digestion)
- where they are broken down by the microbiome
- These anerobic bacteria typically produce fatty acids, rather than monosacharides, and so they don't impact the insulin system as much.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_digestion

[Sergey]

There is no doubt that the functional oligosaccharides have positive effects on human health, both in the prevention and in treatment of chronic diseases. Therefore, there is great interest in health benefits of the functional oligosaccharides. The functional oligosaccharides of various origins (viruses, bacteria, plants and fungi) have been used extensively both as pharmacological supplements, food ingredients, in processed food to aid weight control, to regulation of glucose control for diabetic patients and reducing serum lipid levels in hyperlipidemics and other some acute and chronic diseases. Keeping in view, the pharmacological importance of the functional oligosaccharides and its derivatives, this article discusses the potential of the functional oligosaccharides to modulate the gut flora, to affect different gastrointestinal activities and lipid metabolism, to enhance immunity, and to reduce diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular risk for further exploitation of health benefits of the functional oligosaccharides.

[scientizscht (OP)]

Still noone has answered my question. @chris ?