European scientists have developed an enzyme to cleanly and cheaply produce a healthier sugar with prebiotic properties.
Prebiotics – compounds that nourish the good bacteria in our gut – have become important synthetic targets due to their potential role in preventing diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. There are a limited number currently available for use in food, and most do not have the additional benefit of tasting sweet. Read the full article in Chemistry World»
Read the original journal article in ChemComm – it’s free to access until 30 March 2016:
Converting bulk sugars into prebiotics: semi-rational design of a transglucosylase with controlled selectivity
Tom Verhaeghe, Karel De Winter, Magali Berland, Rob De Vreese, Matthias D’hooghe, Bernard Offmann and Tom Desmet
Chem. Commun., 2016, DOI: 10.1039/C5CC09940D, Communication
