microbiota conferring benefits upon the health of the host (e.g. gut health). This can be achieved by increasing the number and/or activity of probiotics in the colon of a mammal. Prebiotics can be soluble and insoluble and include inulin, lactulose, fructo- oligosaccharide (FOS), β -galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and Trans- galactooligosaccharides (TOS). The sugars of the invention are a new type of prebiotic. 

Feeding our gut microbiota with dietary fibres is important because the fermentation of such substrates can stimulate and/or maintain the population of beneficial microorganisms (eg Bifidobacterium), and stimulate the production of bacterial metabolites (eg SCFA). 

Prebiotics are classified into short chain oligosaccharides (SCFA) consisting of 3-9 monosaccharide units and long chain polysaccharides, which have more than 10 units. 

A substance can be tested for prebiotic effect using the in vitro TIM-2 test in accordance with the sugar cane bagasse testing in Example 8. The increase in SCFA, BCFA and/or ammonia following consumption of a substance can also be tested as described in 

Example 8. 

## Glycaemic response (GR) 

GR refers to the changes in blood glucose after consuming a carbohydrate-containing food. Both the G of a food and the GL of an amount of a food are indicative of the glycaemic response expected when food is consumed. 

## Gl 

The glycaemic index is a system for classifying carbohydrate-containing foods according to the relative change in blood glucose level in a person over two hours after consuming that a food with a certain amount of available carbohydrate (usually 50 g). The area under the two hour blood glucose response curve (AUC) is divided by the AUC of a glucose standard, where both the standard and the test food must contain an equal amount of available carbohydrate. An average Gl is usually calculated from data collected from 10 subjects. Prior to a test the person would typically have undergone a twelve hour fast. The glycaemic index provides a measure of how fast a food raises blood-glucose levels inside the body. Each carbohydrate containing food has a Gl. The amount of food consumed is not relevant to the Gl. A higher Gl means a food increases blood-glucose levels faster. The Gl scale is from 1 to 100. The most commonly used version of the scale is based on glucose. 100 on the glucose Gl scale is the increase in 

