Dietary Sugars Analysis: Quantification of Fructooligossacharides during Fermentation by HPLC-RI Method

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biotechnology
• Food Science

Background:

• Fructooligossacharides (FOS) are important prebiotics with varying biological activities.
• Accurate quantification of FOS is crucial for developing functional foods.
• Current methods may lack the precision needed for industrial-scale monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a simple chromatographic method for quantifying total and individual FOS.
• To monitor FOS production dynamics during sucrose fermentation using Aspergillus aculeatus.
• To enable precise control over FOS mass production and by-product formation.

Main Methods:

• High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a refractive index (RI) detector.
• In-house validation of the chromatographic method.
• Monitoring of sucrose fermentation by Aspergillus aculeatus.

Main Results:

• The HPLC-RI method successfully quantified individual FOS (1-kestose, nystose, 1(F)-fructofuranosylnystose).
• The method demonstrated good precision (RSD < 5%) and accuracy (error < 5%).
• Low detection and quantification limits were achieved for FOS.

Conclusions:

• The validated chromatographic method is suitable for laboratorial and industrial-scale FOS production monitoring.
• Accurate FOS quantification facilitates precise nutritional formulation of functional foods.
• This technique supports the development of novel functional foods with tailored prebiotic effects.