Prebiotic Agave Fructans and Immune Aspects

Agave fructans are complex mixtures of branched fructose polymers with different-sized chains containing β(2-1) and β(2-6) linkages. In the last decade, the interest in studying the functional properties of agave fructans has increased. However, only a few studies in vivo and in vitro are available in the literature. These reports include studies of the prebiotic effect in obesity, blood lipids, cholesterol, and toxicological and immunological studies. This chapter includes information about studies on agave fructans from different sources implicated in health and gives special attention to immune aspects as a prospective field of investigation. Comparisons between inulin-type fructans and agave fructans are discussed.