Intestinal fermentation of lactose and prebiotic lactose derivatives, including human milk oligosaccharides

This review describes the recent advances in technology to study fermentation of lactose and its prebiotic derivatives, including human milk oligosaccharides. Novel molecular tools to identify members of the microbiota that ferment these substrates are highlighted, as well as the use of stable isotope-labelled substrates to be able to trace exactly what happens with the prebiotics. The combined use of these novel technologies allows for the detailed pipeline from prebiotic substrate to microorganism(s) involved in fermentation of that substrate and the microbial metabolites that are produced by these microorganisms. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.