Sammanfattning
The word ”prebiotics” means literally “before life” and the food industry claims that prebiotics promote good health in the consumer. Our aim here is to provide a more nuanced point of view. Most of the various dietary fibres designated as prebiotics cannot be broken down by mammalian enzymes, but do serve as nutrients for microbes in the gastrointestinal tract. In addition to being utilized by the flora itself, some of the products formed from these fibres by bacterial enzymes can be absorbed by the host. From a nutritional perspective, dietary fibres may thus supply more than 2 Kcal/gr to the host. In certain individuals, including patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), dietary fibres may aggravate their symptoms and reduction of the daily intake may alleviate these symptoms partially or even totally. Clearly, more detailed knowledge concerning the fate of dietary fibres in our gastrointestinal tract, as well as their influence on our physiological status is required.