Rumessen J J, Gudmand-Høyer E
Department of Gastroenterology, Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Am J Clin Nutr. 1998 Aug;68(2):357-64. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/68.2.357.
Fructans (fructooligosaccharides and inulin) are of increasing interest to clinical nutritionists as functional food additives. The chemically closely related food carbohydrates fructose and sorbitol are implicated in functional bowel disease. Intestinal handling of these carbohydrates is incompletely understood. Intestinal absorption, transit, and fermentation (breath hydrogen and methane, venous acetate, blood glucose, and urine fructans) after ingestion of 10-30 g short- and long-chain fructans from chicory were studied by single-blind, crossover randomization in 10 healthy adults. Responses were compared with responses after ingestion of lactulose, fructose, and sorbitol. Breath hydrogen and venous acetate production increased in proportion to increasing fructan dose and were similar to responses to lactulose. The transit times of long-chain fructans were longer than those of short-chain fructans (75 compared with 30 min, P<0.001). Semiquantitative estimates of unabsorbed carbohydrate were not significantly different with either short-chain fructans or lactulose as nonabsorbable standards. Venous acetate curves were less precise estimates of the magnitude of carbohydrate malabsorption than were breath-hydrogen curves (P<0.01). All subjects showed malabsorption of 50 g fructose, resulting in significantly more symptoms than 20 g fructose (P<0.05). Ingestion of sorbitol with equimolar amounts of glucose did not reduce malabsorption or abdominal distress. Abdominal symptoms after fructans increased with increasing dose and decreasing chain length. The overall gastrointestinal effects of short-chain fructans seem similar to those of lactulose. Fructans with different chain lengths may have different physiologic properties and further studies of fructans in disease states are warranted.
果聚糖（低聚果糖和菊粉）作为功能性食品添加剂，越来越受到临床营养学家的关注。化学结构密切相关的食物碳水化合物果糖和山梨醇与功能性肠道疾病有关。人们对这些碳水化合物在肠道内的处理过程了解并不完全。通过单盲、交叉随机试验，对10名健康成年人摄入10 - 30克来自菊苣的短链和长链果聚糖后的肠道吸收、转运及发酵情况（呼出气氢气和甲烷、静脉血乙酸盐、血糖及尿果聚糖）进行了研究。将这些反应与摄入乳果糖、果糖和山梨醇后的反应进行了比较。呼出气氢气和静脉血乙酸盐的产生量随果聚糖剂量增加而成比例增加，且与对乳果糖的反应相似。长链果聚糖的转运时间比短链果聚糖长（分别为75分钟和30分钟，P<0.001）。以短链果聚糖或乳果糖作为不可吸收标准时，未吸收碳水化合物的半定量估计值无显著差异。与呼出气氢气曲线相比，静脉血乙酸盐曲线对碳水化合物吸收不良程度的估计不够精确（P<0.01）。所有受试者摄入50克果糖均出现吸收不良，导致的症状明显多于摄入20克果糖时（P<0.05）。等摩尔量葡萄糖与山梨醇一起摄入并不能减少吸收不良或腹部不适。果聚糖摄入后腹部症状随剂量增加和链长缩短而增多。短链果聚糖的总体胃肠道效应似乎与乳果糖相似。不同链长的果聚糖可能具有不同的生理特性，因此有必要对果聚糖在疾病状态下进行进一步研究。
