Inulin

About Inulin

A fructan — a chain of fructose units — extracted mostly from chicory root. It passes undigested into the colon, where bacteria ferment it, which is both the point of the product and the reason it produces gas.

Inulin is one of the few supplements where the mechanism is not in doubt: humans have no enzyme to break the beta-2,1 bonds, so it reaches the colon intact and is fermented, reliably raising faecal bifidobacteria. Whether that microbial shift translates into anything a person notices is much less clear, and the honest summary is that inulin has good evidence for changing the microbiome, modest evidence for bowel function, and thin evidence for the metabolic and mineral-absorption claims made for it. It is also a FODMAP, so the same fermentation that is sold as the benefit is what makes it unusable for many people with irritable bowel syndrome.

Sold as

Powder, Capsule, Food fortification ingredient, Chicory root extract

Standardised to

Degree of polymerisation; long-chain inulin ferments more slowly than short-chain oligofructose — a product without this marker may not resemble what was studied.

Also known as

Chicory root fibre, Chicory inulin, Fructan

Regulation: EFSA has authorised a claim that native chicory inulin contributes to maintenance of normal defecation by increasing stool frequency, at 12 g/day — one of very few authorised gut health claims in the EU, and notably a claim about bowel habit rather than about health.

What the research used

The amounts, forms and durations published trials of Inulin actually administered.

When it was taken

Each window says whether a trial compared it against an alternative, or whether it is convention and pharmacology. Most timing advice is the second kind.

In the food catalogue

The whole-food form, where one exists. The evidence for a concentrated extract rarely transfers to the food, or the other way round — these are cross-links, not equivalents.