Chapter 9: Prebiotic Foods: An Emerging Therapeutic Approach

A complex ecosystem of microorganisms in the human gastrointestinal tract is considered a healthy asset as they improve intestinal homeostasis. Besides, they play various important roles in the prevention of infections by producing various nutrients for the host, modulating constant immunological responses, etc. Hence it becomes very important to modify and maintain their balance to improve health conditions and provide stronger immunity to the host. Prebiotic foods need to be introduced into human diets that would benefit intestinal microbiota and enhance the host’s capability to fight and cope with infections and diseases. The most important application of prebiotic foods is that they can be used as functional foods, and hence can be used for the improvement of the health and nutrition of the host. Moreover, the combination of prebiotics and probiotics would be helpful in providing synergistic health benefit. Molecular informatics has revealed the therapeutic effects of prebiotics such as digestion of malted dietary oligosaccharides and carbohydrates, triggering the release of insulin, controlling the integrity of red blood cells (RBCs), etc.