School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Resources, China-Canada Joint Lab of Food Science and Technology (Nanchang), Key Laboratory of Bioactive Polysaccharides of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf. 2024 Nov;23(6):e70046. doi: 10.1111/1541-4337.70046.
Clarification is required when the term "carbohydrate" is used interchangeably with "saccharide" and "glycan." Carbohydrate classification based on human digestive enzyme activities brings clarity to the energy supply function of digestible sugars and starch. However, categorizing structurally diverse non-digestible carbohydrates (NDCs) to make dietary intake recommendations for health promotion remains elusive. In this review, we present a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional dichotomic classifications of carbohydrates, which were introduced by food chemists, nutritionists, and microbiologists. In parallel, we discuss the current consensus on commonly used terms for NDCs such as "dietary fiber," "prebiotics," and "fermentable glycans" and highlight their inherent differences from the perspectives of gut microbiome. Moreover, we provide a historical perspective on the development of novel concepts such as microbiota-accessible carbohydrates, microbiota-directed fiber, targeted prebiotics, and glycobiome. Crucially, these novel concepts proposed by multidisciplinary scholars help to distinguish the interactions between diverse NDCs and the gut microbiome. In summary, the term NDCs created based on the inability of human digestive enzymes fails to denote their interactions with gut microbiome. Considering that the gut microbiome possesses sophisticated enzyme systems to harvest diverse NDCs, the subclassification of NDCs should be realigned to their metabolism by various gut microbes, particularly health-promoting microbes. Such rigorous categorizations facilitate the development of microbiome-targeted therapeutic strategies by incorporating specific types of NDCs.
当术语“碳水化合物”与“糖”和“聚糖”互换使用时，需要加以澄清。基于人类消化酶活性对碳水化合物进行分类，使可消化糖和淀粉的能量供应功能更加清晰。然而，对结构多样的不可消化碳水化合物（NDC）进行分类，以制定促进健康的饮食摄入建议仍然难以实现。在这篇综述中，我们总结了食品化学家、营养学家和微生物学家提出的碳水化合物传统二分法分类的优缺点。同时，我们讨论了目前对 NDC 常用术语（如“膳食纤维”、“益生元”和“可发酵糖”）的共识，并从肠道微生物组的角度突出了它们的内在差异。此外，我们还提供了关于新出现概念（如微生物可利用碳水化合物、微生物定向纤维、靶向益生元和糖组学）的历史观点。重要的是，这些多学科学者提出的新概念有助于区分不同 NDC 与肠道微生物组之间的相互作用。总之，基于人类消化酶无法作用的 NDC 这一术语并不能表示它们与肠道微生物组的相互作用。考虑到肠道微生物组拥有复杂的酶系统来获取各种 NDC，应该根据各种肠道微生物（特别是促进健康的微生物）对 NDC 的代谢来对 NDC 进行细分。这种严格的分类有助于通过纳入特定类型的 NDC 来开发针对微生物组的治疗策略。
