GOS in health food – improved!

GOS for gut health

A healthy gut helps to keep a healthy mind and body. Bacteria in the gut play a crucial role to digest food, prevent infections and inflammation. Especially, the lower digestive tract or colon is home to billions of various bacteria. GOS or TGOS (Trans-Galacto-Oligo-Saccharides) are prebiotic fibers that are nutrients for our gut bacteria, they are often added to health food products.

The determination of total GOS contents in food and supplements is essential to fulfill food labelling and safety requirements. For that purpose, the AOAC method 2001.02 was developed many years ago.

Improved method

We have developed an improved method for the analysis of GOS in food products using the ALEXYS carbohydrate analyzer. Improvements compared to the original AOAC method are the use of an isocratic separation in 15 min (compared to a gradient run of 40 min), and full separation of lactose from all relevant isomers. The on-column LOD is about 3-5 times better. For more details on carbohydrate analysis, see our website, or click to download the new application note ‘Trans-galactooligosaccharides in food products’.