Isomalto-oligosaccharides: Recent insights in production technology and their use for food and medical applications

The production of functional food ingredients has been promoted in recent years in response to the consumer attention on personal health and well-being demand. Isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMOs) are derived from starch and are a mixture of oligosaccharides with degree of polymerization (DP) ranging 2-10. IMOs exhibit low glycemic index and are classified as prebiotics. Increasing consumer demand for low glycemic foods has recently advanced both academic research industrial developments in the IMOs area. An increasing number of scientific studies highlight enzymatic modification of starch, digestibility and prebiotics fermentability. Additionally, recent studies point at IMOs versatile functionality as food ingredient, pharmaceutical- and cosmetic precursor, all of which are effects of their small molecular size resulting in high solubility and low viscosity. As a result, the numbers of IMOs-related patent classifications for food, foodstuff, ingredient, medical and veterinary purposes, as listed by the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) and International Patent Classification (IPC), have steadily increased over the past 26 years. Interestingly, IMOs have been commercially available for decades in Japan but only recently, IMOs products were launched for the US, European and Canadian markets. The IMOs selling rate is now strongly growing with significant revenues taking off in 2017. In this review, we will give a brief overview and identify some main challenges for IMOs product development from both academic and commercial points of view focusing on their wide variation in chemical and physical properties, functionality in foods, production technology, digestibility, prebiotics fermentability and health-associated functions. Finally, we will project from the current IMOs market situation and discuss potentials for an emerging multi-niche IMOs market as directed by consumer trends and intellectual property right (IPR) situations. This short review is widely intended for scientists, traders and the general public who have interest in prospects of IMOs.