Background

Every year, high volumes of whey are producing by dairy industries, which require significant capital investments to discard this highly reactive by-product and to reduce its adverse impacts on the environment. Protein recovery and also whey lactose transformation to biologically active and high added value compounds such as lactulose, are the suggested solutions to reduce these issues. Lactulose is a prebiotic sugar with versatile applications in food and pharmaceutical industries.

Scope and approach

This review mainly discusses current approaches of lactulose synthesis, its properties, applications in food and pharmaceutical sections, interactions with lipids and proteins, and its potential use as a food grade delivery system.

Key findings and conclusions

The disaccharide lactulose is a synthetic and non-digestible sugar, which can be synthesized from lactose by glucose to fructose rearranging methods. Its β-glycosidic bond cannot be hydrolyzed by enzymes of upper part of digestional tract. As a potent prebiotic disaccharide, lactulose induces the growth of health-enhancing probiotics such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains in concomitant with pathogen-growth suppression. Lactulose is applied in many food products as a bifidogenic agent and functional prebiotic additive for regulating intestinal functions. In pharmaceutical sciences, it can also be used as an effective therapeutic compound for treating some disorders like hepatic encephalopathy and chronic constipation and also as a food grade colon-targeted delivery system (CODES).

中文翻译：

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乳果糖：特性，具有技术功能的食品应用和食品级输送系统

背景

每年，乳业都会生产大量的乳清，这需要大量的资本投资才能丢弃这种高反应性副产物并减少其对环境的不利影响。为减少这些问题，建议的解决方案是蛋白质回收以及乳清乳糖向生物活性和高附加值化合物（如乳果糖）的转化。乳果糖是一种益生元糖，在食品和制药行业具有广泛的应用。

范围和方法

这篇综述主要讨论了乳果糖合成的当前方法，其性质，在食品和药物领域的应用，与脂质和蛋白质的相互作用以及其作为食品级输送系统的潜在用途。

主要发现和结论

二糖乳果糖是合成的且不易消化的糖，其可以由乳糖通过葡萄糖合成为果糖重排方法。它的β-糖苷键不能被消化道上部的酶水解。作为有效的益生元二糖，乳果糖可诱导增强健康的益生菌（如乳酸杆菌和双歧杆菌）的生长菌株伴随病原体生长抑制。乳果糖作为双歧化剂和功能性益生元添加剂用于许多食品中，以调节肠道功能。在制药科学中，它还可以用作治疗某些疾病（例如肝性脑病和慢性便秘）的有效治疗化合物，也可以用作食品级结肠靶向递送系统（CODES）。