Lactulose is a synthetic disaccharide. It can be obtained from lactose by chemical, enzymatic or by electro‐activation synthesis. This review provides the comprehension of lactulose production and its application in medical, pharmaceutical and functional food applications. Lactulose can be used in medical and pharmaceutical applications for the treatment of diseases such as chronic constipation, therapy of portal systemic encephalopathy, inflammatory bowel disease, reducing blood ammonia levels, colon carcinogenesis, tumour prevention and immunology, mineral absorption and for the inhibition of the secondary bile acid formation. However, with the growing interest in functional foods, the use of nondigestible oligosaccharides such as prebiotic ingredients has increased considerably during the recent years. In this context, lactulose as a well‐recognised prebiotic offers excellent possibilities to develop new functional foods. It can be added to several foods.

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乳果糖：生产和用于功能性食品，医疗和制药应用。实用和批判性审查

乳果糖是合成的二糖。它可以通过化学，酶促或电活化合成从乳糖中获得。这篇综述提供了乳果糖生产的理解及其在医疗，制药和功能性食品应用中的应用。乳果糖可用于医学和制药用途，以治疗疾病，例如慢性便秘，门脉系统性脑病，炎性肠病，降低血氨水平，结肠癌变，肿瘤预防和免疫学，矿物质吸收以及抑制血脂次生胆汁酸的形成。然而，随着对功能性食品的兴趣不断增长，近年来，不可消化的低聚糖（如益生元成分）的使用已大大增加。在这种情况下，乳果糖是公认的益生元，为开发新的功能食品提供了极好的可能性。它可以添加到几种食物中。