Exopolysaccharides Produced by Lactic Acid Bacteria and Bifidobacteria as Fermentable Substrates by the Intestinal Microbiota

The functional food market, including products formulated to maintain a “healthy” gut microbiota, i.e. probiotics and prebiotics, has increased enormously since the end of the last century. In order to favor the competitiveness of this sector, as well as to increase our knowledge of the mechanisms of action upon human health, new probiotic strains and prebiotic substrates are being studied. This review discusses the use of exopolysaccharides (EPS), both homopolysaccharides (HoPS) and heteropolysaccharides (HePS), synthesized by lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria as potential prebiotics. These extracellular carbohydrate polymers synthesized by some gut inhabitants seem to be resistant to gastrointestinal digestion; these are susceptible as well to biodegradability by the intestinal microbiota depending on both the physicochemical characteristics of EPS and the pool of glycolytic enzymes harbored by microbiota. Therefore, although the chemical composition of these HoPS and HePS is different, both can be fermentable substrates by intestinal inhabitants and good candidates as prebiotic substrates. However, there are limitations for their use as additives in the food industry due to, on the one hand, their low production yield and, on the other hand, a lack of clinical studies demonstrating the functionality of these biopolymers.