| Abstract
| - Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are naturally occurring sugars withpotentially beneficial nutritionaleffects. They are widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom.An ion chromatographic methodwas developed to rapidly and accurately measure FOS in selected foodand feed ingredients ingestedby humans and animals. The objective of this study was todetermine the 1-kestose (1-kestotriose;GF2), nystose (1,1-kestotetraose; GF3), and1F-β-fructofuranosylnystose (1,1,1-kestopentaose;GF4)content of a wide variety of foods and feedstuffs. Afterextraction with water and appropriatefiltration, samples were chromatographed, using an alkaline sodiumacetate gradient, through anion exchange column and guard fitted to a Dionex chromatography unitequipped with a pulsedelectrochemical detector. All samples were prepared both with andwithout spikes of standards toverify recovery and peak identification. Samples of the Compositaefamily were highest in totalFOS followed by Allium species of the Amaryllidadeae family.The method provided excellentseparation, recovery, and quantification of theGFn units of FOS. Accurate quantitation ofFOSwill allow more precise nutritional formulations to be developed withrespect to inclusion of thisfunctional food component in human and animal diets. Keywords: Fructooligosaccharides; food composition; high-performance liquidchromatography;ion exchange chromatography
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