Galacto-fructo-oligosaccharide fortification of fermented non-dairy snack enhances calcium absorption in healthy adolescent girls

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of galacto-fructo-oligosaccharide (G-FOS) fortification of non-dairy snack on relative calcium absorption, 61 girls (15–18 years) were randomly allocated to three equal groups; (i) Group-P, fermented–malted finger-millet pancake with soy coconut dip (snack; 534 mg calcium/serving); (ii) Group-G, snack fortified with G-FOS (8 g); (iii) Group-C: low calcium rice-flakes snack with calcium carbonate (540 mg). Group-G snack had lower pH (5.9) and higher total fatty acid content than group-P. After a 12-h fast, serum ionized calcium (iCa), intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) were measured at 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 h after the ingestion of snack. Increment in area under the curve over baseline (ΔAUC) in iCa was higher in group-G(9.1%), as compared to group-P(1.4%) (p < 0.05) and group-C(3.1%). PTH ΔAUC was 39.7% higher for group-G as compared to group-P (p>0.1) but lower than group-C. In conclusion, calcium absorption is enhanced by G-FOS fortification and fermentation, which may be mediated through increased fatty acid content of the snack.

Keywords::

• calcium
• absorption
• galacto-fructo-oligosaccharide
• cereal–pulse
• adolescence
• fermentation

Declaration of interest: We thank the adolescents and their parents for their participation in this study. We would like to thank Yunehing Industrial Group Limited, Hong Kong for providing us with prebiotic, YUNEHING G-FOS for the study. We are grateful to Ms Deepa Pillay, Mrs Shamim Momin, Mr Jagdish Sanwalka and Mr Krishna Agarwal for their help with the study. We are also grateful to Dr Uma Divate, Director, Hirabai Cowasji Jehangir Medical Research Institute for their support with the study. We would also like to thank Dr Chitra Dandge and Dr Deepa Kshirsagar from Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, for their valuable guidance regarding fatty acid estimation work. The authors also acknowledge funding from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, to Ms Neha Sanwalka. The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.