Prebiotic effect of porang oligo-glucomannan using fecal batch culture fermentation

Abstract

Porang glucomannan is a polysaccharide extracted from Amorphophallus oncophylus and its degradation product is porang oligoglucomannan (POG). It contains glucomannan, which has been used as an emulsifier, thickener, or as a nutritional supplement to counter many diseases. While it is believed to have health benefits, there are only limited studies exploring this aspect of porang glucomannnan (PGM). It was hydrolyzed using β-mannanase to obtain POG under optimal conditions: reaction temperature of 37 °C, reaction time of 4 h, pH 5.5 and E/S of 1:1,000 (w/w). The study aimed to evaluate the fermented POG, which might also generate short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and to estimate the prebiotic activity score of POG fermented in vitro. The results show that SCFA profiles of POG fermentation gave a high acetic acid concentration (32.64 mM) and butyric acid (6.68 mM) at 12 h, having butyrogenic effects after a rapid fermentation. Mostly the beneficial bacteria grew faster on POG and KOG (konjac oligo-glucomannan) than on PGM or control at the beginning of incubation. Among the substrates screened, POG showed a highly positive prebiotic index of 10.29, increasing bifidobacteria and lactobacilli but reducing bacteroides population. So, POG is a candidate prebiotic since it has bifidogenic, butyrogenicity, and fermentability.