Fructo-oligosaccharides and glucose homeostasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis in animal models

The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effect of fructo-oligosaccharide supplementation on glucose homeostasis. The search process was based on the selection of publications listed in the Pubmed-Medline database until April 2016 to identify studies evaluating the impact of short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides or oligofructose on glucose homeostasis. Twenty-nine trials were included in the systematic review and the meta-analysis was performed on twelve of these papers according to the inclusion criteria. Fasting blood concentrations of glucose and insulin were selected as pertinent criteria of glucose homeostasis for the meta-analysis. The consumption of fructo-oligosaccharides decreased fasting blood glycaemia levels, whatever the metabolic status (healthy, obese or diabetic) and diet (low-fat or high-fat) throughout the experiment. This reduction was linear with prebiotic dose (from 0 to 13% of the feed). Fasting insulinaemia also decreased linearly with fructo-oligosaccharide supplementation but the reduction was only significant in rodents fed a low-fat diet. Potential underlying mechanisms include gut bacterial fermentation of fructo-oligosaccharides to short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and bacterial modulation of bile acids, both interacting with host metabolism. This systemic review, followed by the meta-analysis, provides evidence that fructo-oligosaccharide supplementation has a significant effect on glucose homeostasis whatever the health status and diet consumed by animals.