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Excellent Functional Food Ingredients-Inulin

2024-06-01

 What is inulin

Inulin is the energy-storing polysaccharide in plants, and is the second largest non-structural carbohydrate found in nature so far after starch, with more than 36,000 species of plants found to contain inulin.
Inulin is the highest quality natural prebiotic and dietary fiber discovered by mankind, from 1804 when it was discovered by German scientists, and has a history of more than 200 years.
Inulin is the most thoroughly researched to date and is recognized as a high quality prebiotic and dietary fiber by the academic and nutritional communities. The characteristic of inulin is that it cannot be directly absorbed by the human body, and is transformed by probiotics at the human colon as a carbon source by fermentation, which is safe for the human body. 

What foods contain inulin

Inulin on the market today is mainly extracted from chicory and inulin, of which more than 80% of global inulin is extracted from chicory.
 

What is inulin
What is inulin used for

What is inulin used for

Studies have shown that the adult body has roughly 1.5 to 2 kilograms of bacteria, and the intestines are the largest repository of these bacteria, with as many as 100 trillion bacteria. The good bacteria are called beneficial bacteria, the bad bacteria are called harmful bacteria, and there is a neutral bacteria in between. Bacteria fight every day for the survival and reproduction of their species. When the beneficial bacteria prevail, our intestines are healthy; when the harmful bacteria prevail, then the intestines are unhealthy.
Scientists have found that more than 30 modern civilization diseases including obesity, hyperglycemia, chronic diarrhea/constipation, and depression are related to disorders of the intestinal flora. Therefore, in order to maintain the healthy state of the intestinal tract, we need to give our beneficial bacteria warriors sufficient sustenance.
Inulin is the food that increases the value-added of beneficial bacteria - prebiotics. There are many kinds of prebiotics, such as inulin, oligofructose, oligogalactose, fructose, oligosaccharides, oligosaccharides, oligoisomaltose, lactitol and so on. However, the ones with the most data and evidence from scientific experiments and clinical trials are still inulin, oligofructose and oligogalactose, which are unanimously recognized by the scientific community as pure natural prebiotics.

Inulin benefits

01 Regulate the structure of intestinal microbial community

Although inulin cannot be digested and absorbed in the human small intestine, it can be fermented and utilized by various probiotics in the large intestine, lowering the pH value in the intestines, thus inhibiting the proliferation of many kinds of spoilage bacteria, indirectly reducing the production of toxin substances in the intestines, and effectively improving the level of intestinal health. Studies have shown that daily intake of a certain amount of inulin can increase the number of probiotics in the colon up to 10 times, significantly reducing the number of pathogenic bacteria and spoilage bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and coliforms.

02 Improve diarrhea

Inulin can be used in the treatment of acute diarrhea in adults, which helps to improve the intestinal mucosal function and promote the recovery of intestinal flora in patients with acute diarrhea. Different polymerization degree of inulin has different effects on the intestinal tract, low polymerization degree of inulin has more obvious effects on the intestinal colony structure, while high polymerization degree type of inulin has obvious beneficial effects on the colonic microbiota.


03 Regulation of blood sugar

Inulin can not be hydrolyzed into monosaccharides in the small intestine, which will not cause a significant increase in blood glucose level in the body, and it can also promote the body's absorption of Mg2+ and play a role in stabilizing blood glucose. The European Food Safety Authority points out that oligofructose plays a crucial role in glycemic control, and there is a significant correlation between it and the improvement in glycemic response after ingestion, and this statement is intended to recognize that oligofructose has the effect of lowering postprandial blood glucose.

04 Relieve obesity and lower cholesterol

It was found that short-chain inulin can effectively reduce the accumulation of fat in the liver of obese mice, increase the proportion of probiotic flora, and alleviate obesity in mice. Inulin has a significant lowering effect on the total cholesterol level, triglyceride level and HDL level of obese patients, which is related to the dosage, duration and the patient's own physiological state.

05 Lowering blood fat

Inulin can form a fat-dietary fiber complex with fat and be excreted with feces, reducing the body's absorption of fat and helping to reduce blood lipid levels [8-9]. Inulin can also reduce blood cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels [10-11]. The short-chain fatty acids generated by the fermentation of inulin play an important role in this process, among which propionic acid can inhibit the synthesis of hepatic cholesterol and triacylglycerol, increase the synthesis and secretion of bile acids, and thus reduce the level of blood lipids.
Inulin Supplement
In 2003, the US FDA has confirmed that inulin is GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe Substances), with an effective daily intake of 5 grams and a recommended maximum daily intake of 15-20 grams.
At present, inulin has been widely used in milk powder, milk tablets, beverages and herbal tea for middle-aged and old-aged people.

inulin powder

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