TABLE 1.

Health benefit examples of established, novel, and emerging prebiotics in humans.

Prebiotic type	Established/novel/emerging1	Health effect/benefit	Dosage (per day) and formulation	Outcome	Reference	Jadad score and limitations
Acacia gum	Established	Glycemia	20 g powder mixed with hot water, tea, milk, or with food	Lowers fasting blood glucose response and increases satiety	[70]	3.5; none reported
		Dyslipidemia	30 mg tablets	Reduces cholesterol by 26%, LDL by 31%, and triglycerides by 38%	[71]	1; none reported
		Diabetes	30 g powder	Improves fasting and postprandial plasma glucose, postprandial insulin, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol, and triglycerides	[72]	5; study design flaw
			10 g powder mixed into lukewarm water		[73]	1; none reported
		Irritable bowel syndrome	10 g sachets mixed in orange juice	Significant improvement in stool frequency	[74]	5 •Statistical power slightly underpowered •Study design flaw short study duration •Data analysis flaw no subgroup analysis or stratification
Amino acids	Emerging	Obesity	Two 15-g packs dissolved in water	Reduces levels of Bacillota (previously Firmicutes) and Actinomycetota (previously Actinobacteria)	[66]	3; none reported
Fructo-oligosaccharides	Established	Crohn disease	15 g sachets dissolved in water	Increases fecal bifidobacterial concentrations and mucosal dendritic cell function	[28]	0; none reported
		Constipation	6, 9, or 12 g in infant formula	Reduces bowel transit time and increases counts of Bifidobacterium spp.	[75]	5 •Sample size insufficient •Research design limitation unexpected effect of secondary intervention
Galactooligosaccharides	Established	Behavioral changes	5.5 g powder mixed with water or food	Increases Bifidobacterium levels	[76]	2 •Study design flaw appetite was not measured
		Irritable bowel syndrome	3.5 g & 7 g powder in sachets	Decreases flatulence, bloating and abdominal pain, improves stool consistency	[29]	4.5; none reported
		Immunity	5.5 g powder in sachets	Improves cytokine responses, natural killer cell activity and phagocytosis	[77,78]	4; none reported 4; none reported
		Hyperpnea-induced bronchoconstriction	5.5 g Bimuno galactooligosaccharide supplement	Reduced airway inflammation markers	[79]	5; none reported
		Lactose intolerance	1.5–15 g in water	Improves lactose digestion and reduces abdominal pain	[80]	5; none reported
Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs)	Established	Irritable bowel disease	5 or 10 g supplement	Gut microbiome modulation and mucosal response	[81]	5 •Subject data limitation
Inulin	Established	Bone mineralization	8 g mixed with calcium-fortified orange juice	Enhances calcium absorption and whole-body bone mineral content and density	[82]	5; none reported
		Constipation	4 g mixed in a dairy product	Improves stool consistency	[83]	5; none reported
ω-3 Fatty acids	Novel	Cardiovascular markers	500 mg (165 mg EPA, 110 mg DHA, in gelatin capsules)	Gut microbiome modulation and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production	[43]	2 •No placebo arm •Limited population mostly female subjects •Data collection techniques
		Stress	56 g of walnuts	Improves gut microbiome diversity	[33]	3 •Potential sex bias in data analysis •No blinding •Differences in data collection conditions
Polyphenols	Novel	Diabetes	333 mg strawberry cranberry polyphenols (SCP) in a beverage	Improves insulin sensitivity	[84]	4; none reported
		Arterial stiffness	105.9 mg polyphenols from aronia berry capsules	Increases gut microbial richness and SCFA production	[85]	4 •Population generalizability •Impact limitation no cause-effect relationship can be concluded
		Hypertension	500 mg polyphenolic blend (175 mg Hibiscus sabdariffa and 325 mg Lippia citriodora)	Reduce daytime parameters of blood pressure	[86]	4 •Instrument limitations
Resistant dextrin (RD)	Novel	Type 2 diabetes	10 g RD (NUTRIOSE 06FM) powder supplement	Decreases fasting insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, quantitative insulin sensitivity check index, IL-6, TNF-α, endotoxin, and malondialdehyde	[87]	5 •Sample size •Short intervention duration •Study design flaw gut or fecal microbiota were not assessed, nor were serum SCFA and nonesterified fatty acid levels
Resistant starch (RS)	Established	Glycemia	RS from high amylose corn (Hi-maize 260) and raw potato starch	Increases insulin sensitivity	[[88], [89], [90]]	5 •Study size small •Study design flaw very restrictive exclusion criteria 4 •Sample size small •Study design flaw demanding study regimen 4 •Study technique/design flaw dietary fiber intake was not assessed and multiple relevant biomarkers were not measured.
		Type 2 diabetes	4.5 g RS from green banana	Decreases fasting glucose and HbA1c	[91]	3 •Study technique/design flaw
		Cancer	30 g RS (1:1 blend of Novelose 240 and Novelose 330)	Substantial protective effects against noncolorectal cancers in patients with lynch syndrome	[92]	4; none reported
		Hypertension	40 g acetylated and butyrylated high amylose maize starch (HAMSAB) supplement	Increases SCFA production and lowers blood pressure	[93]	5 •Sample size •Lack of long-term follow-up •Differences in the intervention vs. control diets
		Metabolic syndrome	20 g of green banana flour dissolved in milk, yogurt, or juice	Reduces blood pressure and fasting glucose	[94]	1; none reported
		Constipation	20 g Hi-maize RS2 high amylose corn starch delivered in biscuits	Constipation improved	[95]	4 •Sample size small •The study population had a large age difference •Study design flaw short study duration
Xylans	Established	Obesity	Females: 25 g fermentable corn bran arabinoxylan Males: 35 g fermentable corn bran arabinoxylan	Increases propionate and Bifidobacterium longum. Enhances satiety and decreases HOMA-IR	[26,96,97]	4.5 •Sample size •Study technique/design flaw
		Overweight and obesity	7.5 or 15 g arabinoxylan	Influences gene transcription, microbial diversity, fecal pH, and fecal SCFA concentrations	[98]	5 •Study design flaw fecal SCFAs assessed and not intestinal SCFAs •Hepatic parameters not tested •Diet and exercise were not controlled
		Metabolic syndrome	15 g arabinoxylan supplement	Improves postprandial metabolic responses including serum glucose, insulin, and triglycerides	[27]	2.5 •Sample size

¹Established: introduced with the discovery of prebiotics category or shortly after and have been extensively studied for their prebiotic effect. Novel: discovered recently and is increasingly researched as a prebiotic. Emerging: discovered recently and research is underway for its potential as a prebiotic.