In recent years, studies on oligosaccharides have been of increasing interest to researchers. Many native or derived oligosaccharides from food resources have been investigated and their varied beneficial bioactive functions have been discovered (Jeong,Nguyen, & Kim, 2012). For example, Sangwan, Tomar, Singh, Singh, and Ali (2011) noted that galacto-oligosaccharides are identical to human milk oligosaccharides and developed strong clinical support for their involvement in both digestive and immune health. You, Yang, Lee, and Lee (2010) reported that native fucoidan from Undaira pinnatifida could be used as an anticancer agent and that
its anticancer activity was significantly enhanced after its conversion to oligosaccharides. Thus, there is a promising future for the application of oligosaccharides as functional food ingredients.