Galactooligosaccharides: Physiological benefits, production strategies, and industrial application

The concern for better life quality has been encouraging the bioprocess industries to develop technological strategies to obtain new biomolecules. Galactooligosaccharides (GOS) are an important class of food-grade oligosaccharides, being classified as non-digestible, and which present prebiotic potential, promoting better conditions of health and well-being. The main benefits include the selective stimulation of beneficial microorganisms, the decrease in the formation of toxic compounds, the increase in the absorption of minerals, improvement of an immune response, and a reduction in the severity of obesity and diabetes. This review approaches the recent methodologies and strategies to obtain GOS, their health benefits, purification, and technological properties for industrial application. Improvements in the process are continuously being investigated, with the technique of enzyme immobilization representing a potentially promising strategy. Sustainable GOS productions have been reported by the use of agro-industrial residues, such as cheese whey. Despite these advances, the main concern of the process consists in the low yield, which implies high investments in the purification of the bioproducts. Technological and nutritional approaches to the GOS application in different industrial sectors are also reported.