ABSTRACT
Agaves are plants mainly distributed in America; these plants have the capacity for adaptation to grow at different environmental conditions. In Mexico, Agaves have a high economic importance because of the many products that can be obtained from them. Agaves contain carbohydrates that have been used to obtain alcoholic beverages. Fructans are the principal carbohydrates found in agaves. The composition and structure of fructans from Agave species have been widely described in many studies. Agave fructans have demonstrated to possess a prebiotic effect. Several techniques have been used for fructans analysis. Chromatographic methods are the most commonly used for fructooligosaccharides and fruc- tans analyses because other methods are complicated and expensive, and because of lack of standards. This paper describes the importance of fruc- tans as food functional component, applications, and compares different chromatographic and other techniques for agave fructans analysis.
