Food-derived polysaccharides are gaining popularity across diverse food applications due to their wide-ranging bioactivities and distinctive properties. The specific targeting of glycoside hydrolases towards glycosidic bonds lays the groundwork for synthesizing and exploring specific structural segments of polysaccharides, offering crucial implications in the food industry. However, macromolecular polysaccharides demonstrate limited biological activities as their active centers are tightly enveloped, posing challenges for traversing cell membrane barriers. By selectively cleaving partial glycosidic linkages in polysaccharides, glycoside hydrolases decrease the polymerization of polysaccharide molecules and effectively change the structural characteristics, where a series of smaller polysaccharide fragments can be generated for improving the bioactivities and properties in some respects. This review examines the role of glycoside hydrolases in degrading food-derived polysaccharides, the structure-function relationships, reaction conditions, and the current application status of degraded polysaccharides is discussed in particular. In addition, we also highlight challenges and future directions worth attention in the application of enzymes and polysaccharides. Overall, the present review will provide an efficient method for producing bioactivity-enhanced polysaccharides, which can improve the effectiveness and safety of functional foods to safeguard human wellness.

As the global population ages, the prevalence of osteosarcopenia—a combined condition of osteoporosis and sarcopenia—poses significant health challenges, leading to increased frailty, falls, and chronic disability in the elderly, especially for postmenopausal women. Nutritional interventions targeting age-associated physiological decline present promising strategies for managing these conditions. In this study, the preventive effects of total Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP), acidic LBP (ALBP), and neutral LBP (NLBP) on osteosarcopenia were systematically evaluated using an ovariectomized (OVX) mouse model. Our findings showed that ALBP significantly improved physical performance, bone strength, and bone density, while enhancing muscle mass and fiber size, thereby effectively alleviating osteosarcopenia. Mechanistic investigations revealed that ALBP elevated the expression levels of osteoblast-associated genes such as Alp, Col1a1, Runx2, Opn, upregulated key myogenic genes, including Myh2, Myh4, Myh7, while activating the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. Dose-response relationship studies confirmed the efficacy of ALBP in preventing osteosarcopenia. Further analysis using gut microbiota sequencing, depletion models, and correlation analysis demonstrated that the preventive effects of ALBP is strongly correlated to gut microbiota, including Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, Desulfobacterota, and Patescibacteria. These results highlight the potential of ALBP as promising candidate for preventing osteosarcopenia and improving the well-being of the elderly.