Mannan Oligosaccharide based nutritional supplements (MOS)

Mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) based nutritional supplements are widely used in nutrition as a natural additive. MOS has been shown to improve gastrointestinal health as well as overall health, thus improving wellbeing, energy levels and performance. Most MOS products, particularly those that have been scientifically reviewed, derive from the cell wall of the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The initial interest in using MOS to protect gastrointestinal health originated from work done in the late 1980s. At this time researchers looked at the ability of mannose, the pure version of the complex sugar in MOS, to inhibit salmonella infections. Different studies showed that salmonella can bind via type-1-fimbriae (finger-like projections) to mannose. The binding to mannose reduces the risk of pathogen colonization in the intestinal tract. Different forms of mannose-type sugars interact differently with type-1-fimbriae. The form present in the cell wall of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (α-1,3 and α-1,6 branched mannans; for more details see Structure defines function) is particularly effective at binding pathogens. Based on those facts, Newman et al. investigated the effect of MOS in calves and reported improved performance.

The gut is home to billions of microorganisms. Nutrition must not only provide the necessary nutrients, it must also support a balanced microflora. In recent years consumers and the media have placed an ever greater emphasis on wellness, energy levels and overall well being. MOS as a natural nutritional supplement offers a novel approach to support the microflora and thus improve overall health and well-being.

Experiments with rats have indicated that D-mannoheptulose injections created an aversion to carbohydrates.Glucomannan supplementation reputedly promotes weight loss in overweight persons as a result of fiber-filling and reduced fat uptake. But although a high fat diet supplemented with mannan oligosaccharide in mice reduced food intake, there was no significant effect on body weight, total fat, or visceral fat.

In farmed animals, gut health has an additional dimension, as a healthy gut enables more efficient use of feed, called the feed conversion ratio. Over many decades antibiotic drugs have been added to the diet of farmed animals at non-therapeutic levels in the absence of disease, in order to enhance the feed conversion ratio, accelerate growth and protect the animal's health, therefore increasing profitability for producers. Today, however, there is a global push to reduce the use of medically important antibiotics as feed additives for farm animals, due to concerns about this practice promoting the emergence of antibiotic resistant microorganisms. This trend has fueled interest in natural nutritional concepts. Based on a large body of research MOS has established itself as one of the more important natural additives in farm animal production. The effect of MOS on animal performance was analysed in several meta-analyses (statistical analyses of final reports from trials that essentially contain the same experimental treatments) for poultry, pigs, and calves. These analyses reported improvements in performance with MOS.

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