Characteristics of Metroxylon sagu Resistant Starch Type III as Prebiotic Substance

Abstract Resistant starch type III (RS 3 ) was produced from sago ( Metroxylon sagu ) and evaluated for its characteristics as a prebiotic. Two RS 3 samples designated sago RS and HCl‐sago RS contained 35.71% and 68.30% RS, respectively, were subjected to hydrolyses by gastric juice and digestive enzymes and to absorption. Both sago RS and HCl‐sago RS were resistant to 180 min hydrolysis by gastric acidity at pH 1 to 4 with less than 0.85% hydrolyzed. Both samples were also resistant toward hydrolysis by gastrointestinal tract enzymes and intestinal absorption with 96.75% and 98.69% of RS 3 were recovered respectively after 3.5 h digestion and overnight dialysis at 37 °C. Sago RS 3 supported the growth of both beneficial (lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria) and pathogenic microbes ( Escherichia coli, Campylobacter coli , and Clostridium perfringens ) in the range of 2.60 to 3.91 log 10 CFU/mL. Hence, prebiotic activity score was applied to describe the extent to which sago RS 3 supports selective growth of the lactobacilli and bifidobacteria strains over pathogenic bacteria. The highest scores were obtained from Bifidobacterium sp. FTDC8943 grown on sago RS (+0.26) and HCl‐sago RS (+0.24) followed by L. bulgaricus FTDC1511 grown on sago RS (+0.21). The findings had suggested that sago RS 3 has the prebiotic partial characteristics and it is suggested to further assess the suitability of sago RS 3 as a prebiotic material.