益生素（Prebiotics）

益生素（Prebiotics），有人定義為：促進有益菌生長之物質；與益生菌一樣是近年來學術界和產業界研究開發之焦點。
益生素的研究起源於Gyorgy發現母乳中含有雙歧桿菌增殖因子，又觀察到以母乳哺育的嬰兒與非母乳哺育之嬰兒其腸道中雙歧桿菌的數量有明顯差異，且後者的抵抗力不如前者。1974年美國學者R.E. Parker認為：“益生素”是維持腸道內微生物平衡的微生物或物質。而美國食品與藥品管理局（FDA）把這類產品定義為“可以直接食用的微生物製品”。
益生素至少要具有以下之功能：
具有在消化道不被消化與不被吸收之功能
能夠促進有益菌的增殖
能夠有效改善腸道菌相
能夠改善宿主腸道功能
一般會將益生素（Prebiotics）與益生菌（Probiotcs）結合，稱為合益素（Synbiotics），兩者結合之後作用可使腸道之有益菌生長與定殖，形成腸道菌相平衡，進而促進人體健康。

Essential Amino Acids

Dietary protein is the main source of amino acids. Amino acids can be used as fuel, but usually more important roles for them are as building blocks for proteins, and as a source of carbon and nitrogen for biosynthesis of other biochemicals.

In the process of digestion, proteins are broken down to free amino acids in the gastrointestinal tract. They are then absorbed and pass into the circulation, and are transported to liver where -NH2 groups are removed by transamination. The resulting alpha-keto acid is then used as fuel, or as a biosynthetic intermediate.

Amino acids are not stored in the body like fats or carbohydrate; there are no specialized cells in the body to maintain a reservoir. Of course, amino acids are ubiquitous, being present in structural proteins, enzymes, transport proteins, etc. Some of these proteins (notably serum albumin) can be degraded under conditions of fasting or starvation, to release free amino acids.

Adult humans are unable to synthesize all twenty amino acids needed for protein synthesis; those which cannot be synthesized and which must then be acquired via the diet are referred to as essential. The ten which the body can synthesize on its own are nonessential.

Essential amino acids are so called not because they are more important to life than the others, but because the body does not synthesize them, making it essential to include them in one's diet in order to obtain them.Eight amino acids are generally regarded as essential for humans: phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, isoleucine, methionine, leucine, and lysine.

Digestive System

Élie Metchnikoff, the father of modern immunology, spoke optimistically about the possible health benefits of lactic acid-bacteria (LAB) . For centuries, folklore suggested that fermented dairy products containing live active cultures are healthful. Recent controlled scientific investigation supports these traditional views, suggesting that probiotics are a valuable part of a healthy diet . Research suggests that probiotic bacteria may mediate a variety of health effects through numerous proposed mechanisms . Alleviation of lactose intolerance symptoms and anti-diarrhea effects are the best substantiated effects.

Many types of diarrheal illnesses, with many different causes, disrupt intestinal function. The ability of probiotics to decrease the incidence or duration of certain diarrheal illnesses is perhaps the most substantiated health effect of probiotics. Probiotics can prevent or ameliorate diarrhea through their effects on the immune system. Moreover, probiotics might prevent infection because they compete with pathogenic viruses or bacteria for binding sites on epithelial cells . In the pediatric population, probiotics appear to benefit viral diarrhea, possibly by increasing the antibody secretory IgA and decreasing viral shedding, suggesting an immunological mechanism .
Studies evaluating the effect of probiotics on travelers' diarrhea are equivocal. Travelers' diarrhea (3 times or more) occurs in residents of developed countries after traveling to subtropical and tropical zones. Drinking Lactobacillus GG strain significantly decreased the incidence of diarrhea in travelers. Studies with more reliable results are still needed through appropriate selection of traveling regions .

Inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, are serious intestinal disorders that can ultimately necessitate the surgical removal of the colon. The causes of such diseases are unknown, but it has been hypothesized that an intolerance to the normal flora (bacteria) in the gut leads to inflammation and resulting pathology. The role of gut flora in the progression of these diseases has led some researchers to study the impact certain probiotic bacteria might have on maintaining the state of reduced inflammation that occurs during the diseases' remission stages. Several controlled clinical trials have shown that high levels of certain probiotic strains can extend the disease-free remission period.

In general, cancer is caused by mutation or abnormal activation of genes that control cell growth and division. Many processes or exposures can increase the occurrence of abnormal cells,.among them chemical exposures. Cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens) can be ingested in a normal diet or generated by metabolic activity of microbes that live in the gastrointestinal system. It has been hypothesized that probiotic cultures might decrease the exposure to chemical carcinogens by (a) detoxifying ingested carcinogens; (b) altering the environment of the intestine and thereby decreasing populations or metabolic activities of bacteria that may generate carcinogenic compounds; (c) producing metabolic products (e.g., butyrate) which improve a cell's ability to die when it should die (a process known as apoptosis or programmed cell death); (d) producing compounds that inhibit the growth of tumor cells; or (e) stimulating the immune system to better defend against cancer cell proliferation .
Research suggests that the consumption of probiotic cultures may decrease cancer risk. Researchers testing the effect of the consumption of fermented milks, probiotic bacteria, and components or extracts of bacteria have found :
*A reduction in the incidence of chemically induced tumors in rats.
*A reduction of the activity of fecal enzymes, postulated to play a role in colon cancer in human and animal subjects.
*Degradation of nitrosamines.
*A weakening of mutagenic activity of substances tested in the laboratory.
*Prevention of damage to DNA in certain colonic cells.
*In vitro binding of mutagens by cell wall components of probiotic bacteria.
*Enhancement of immune system functioning.

Woman's health

Probiotics to Maintain Vaginal Health
More than 50 different species of bacteria may live in a woman’s vagina, with lactobacilli being the predominant microorganism found in healthy women. However, many factors can change the vaginal bacterial composition and decrease numbers of healthy lactobacilli including: antibiotics, menopause (or estrogen deficiency), oral contraceptives, spermicides, and/or diabetes.

These lactobacilli produce bacteriocins, hydrogen peroxide, and lactic acid. These substances lower the vaginal pH, which creates a more hostile environment for bacteria other than lactobacilli. If the number of lactobacilli falls off, the resulting increase in pH favors an overgrowth of anaerobic and facultative bacteria, which can develop into vaginitis/vaginosis.

Recently, Ronnquist and colleagues (Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2006;85:726-735.)impregnated panty liners with a particular strain of Lactobacillus plantarum. In women who wore the panty liners for 5 months, Lactobacillus plantarum was found in 86% of labial and 54% of vaginal specimens. The pH of vaginal fluid was much lower (P<0.001)>

Immune system health

Modulation of the gut microflora (populations and activities) and influence on mucosal immunity are mechanisms of probiotic function with potential to broadly influence human physiology . For example, the ability of probiotic bacteria to support the immune system could be important to the elderly or other people with compromised immune function. (It is important that immune compromised individuals ask their doctor before taking any dietary supplement, including probiotics). Much active research focuses on the development of target-specific probiotics containing well-characterized bacteria that are selected for their health-enhancing characteristics. These new probiotics are entering the marketplace in the form of nutritional supplements and functional foods, such as yogurt products .

Allergy is on the rise in industrialized nations. It is estimated that the incidence of asthma in the United States doubled between 1980 and 2000. Some hypothesis suggests that the exposure of infants to microbes before the age of six months helps the immune system mature to better tolerate allergens later in life .

increasing exposure to microbes must be done safely. This hypothesis led researchers in Finland to conduct a study evaluating the effects of a Lactobacillus strain on incidence of atopic eczema in 132 infants at high risk of developing eczema. The study was double-blinded and placebo-controlled. Pregnant mothers two-to-four weeks before delivery and newborn babies through six months of age were given Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. Infants were followed through two years of age and incidence of recurring atopic eczema was recorded. The study reported a 50% drop in incidence of recurring atopic eczema in the group receiving the probiotic supplement. A follow up study of these same children indicated that these trends were still present at four years of age. These results suggest that exposure to the right types of microbes early in life may decrease allergy risk .

http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/probiotic/review3.php

Nonessential Amino Acids

Non essential amino acids are amino acids that can be produced in our body. Their uses and functions in our body are equally as important as the limiting amino acids. The difference is that those kind of amino acids can be found in our food.

Oligosaccharides

寡糖是由3-10個單醣所組成，不被人體消化吸收，但可被腸道中有益菌分解利用並使其大量增殖，故具有益生素之功能；而益生素不容易在一般飲食中取得，必須額外補充，才能時時將腸道調整為利於有益菌生長之狀態。我們提供下列優質的寡糖產品：
 合生寡糖 Synthetic oligosaccharides
 半乳寡糖 Galacto-oligosaccharide
 果寡糖 Fructo-oligosaccharide
 異麥芽寡糖 Isomalto-oligosaccharide
 寡糖粉 Oligosaccharide powder
產品特色：
 維持腸道中菌相的平衡，提供有益菌生長之養份
 促進腸道蠕動，維持身體健康
 低熱量、無負擔
 安全、無副作用：美國、日本、韓國及台灣，都將寡糖列為『食品級』