galactooligosaccharides

Galactooligosaccharides are a **prebiotic oligosaccharide mixture** typically produced from lactose and used orally as a non-digestible carbohydrate to selectively stimulate beneficial gut microbes, especially *Bifidobacterium* spp. Rather than acting through a single receptor target, galactooligosaccharides function as a **microbiome-modulating substrate** that is fermented in the colon to short-chain fatty acids and other metabolites, with downstream effects on intestinal barrier integrity, stool characteristics, and mucosal immune tone. In the provided public sources, galactooligosaccharides were studied as a standalone prebiotic in obese adults, ulcerative colitis, overweight individuals, and in preclinical ALS models; they increased fecal bifidobacteria and improved markers of colonic permeability in obese adults, but did not show clear synergism when combined with probiotic strains in the cited synbiotic trial. This is a nutritional/prebiotic ingredient rather than a conventional pharmaceutical API, and commercial material in the cited human trial was supplied as Vivinal GOS by FrieslandCampina.

Brand names

Vivinal GOS

Other names

GOSgalacto-oligosaccharidesgalactooligosaccharidetrans-galactooligosaccharidesB-GOS