Talk:Inulin
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It's important that we expand this article to include nutrition. People are seeing inulin on the sides of packages more and more now, so it's important we address inulin's increasing role as food - a biochemistry article like this may be meaningful to me, but most people have no clue of even simple concepts like polysaccharides, nor does it seem particularly important for their day to day living. I have added to the top of the article a blurb on inulin, but it really should be simplified and a whole new "Inulin & Food" section with subsections addressing blood sugar response, fiber and probiotic benefits, etc. I'm not up to doing that tonight, but perhaps later. I have added a few external links if anybody else wants to get started. Blueandwhiteg3 05:44, 24 January 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] Suggestion for correction
Inulin is a polysaccharide , Insulin is a protein, ie the first sentence is not quite true. But, because it contains fructose instead of glucose units, it IS used in diabetes-therapy.
(see german page for reference). I'm not a native english speaker, pls check my comment and transform it nto good encyclopedia style Thanks "thomasgl" (oops, forgot to log in...)
Not sure what the issue is here ? The only text referring to Insulin is more than half-way through when it says : Inulin is, however, not chemically related Insulin; the similarities in name do not relate to any similarity in form or function.
Velela 19:11, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Proprietary?
In what sense are yoghurt and milk "proprietary formulations"? I must be misunderstanding this sentence.
Pekinensis 17:37, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Hope the rephrasing has fixed this.
- Velela 19:11, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Yes, now I understand. Thanks!
Pekinensis 19:43, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Inulin content of various foods
[merged data from several sources]
FOOD g/100g ==================================== Artichoke Hearts (leaves) 2-10 Asparagus Root 1-30 Banana 0.3-0.7 Barley 0.5-1.5 Burdock Root 3.5-4 Camas Bulb 12-22 Chicory Root 15-20 Dandelion Leaves 12-15 Garlic 9-16 Jerusalem Artichoke (tuber) 16-20 Leeks 3-16 Murnong Root 8-13 Onion 2-10 Rye 0.5-1 Salsify Root 4-11 Wheat 1-6 Yacon Root 3-19
sources for above table: http://www.tpclabs.com/file.aspx?FileID=108 http://members.shaw.ca/duncancrow/inulin_prebiotic_probiotic.html
[edit] Inulin only feeds friendly bacteria?
Hyped up claims that Inulin only feeds beneficial flora are incorrect. Such claims are common in advertising material and of course on the Internet.
The following research from the Netherlands shows that Inulin (and also FOS) impaired resistance to infection by Salmonella and Enterobacteria. Also increased stool toxicity to gut wall was present (cytotoxicity of faecal water) making it all too clear that Inulin can in some scenarios worsen the health of the gut. See Figure 1, Figure 3 and Table 2 in the link below.
Title: Dietary fructo-oligosaccharides and inulin decrease resistance of rats to salmonella: protective role of calcium Gut 2004;53:530-535 Nutrition and Health Program, Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences/NIZO Food Research, Ede, the Netherlands http://gut.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/53/4/530
The following research shows (in Table 1) that Inulin feeds the harmful flora E. Coli and Clostridium butyricum. see: http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/10/6150
- It is almost certainly true that almost any food can produce adverse reactions in both humans and animals. It is probably also true that the best nutritional philosophy is a well balanced diet containing a range of fruits and vegtables with relatively low levels of animals fats and proteins. It is also worth noting that many bacterial species which receive a bad press are normal and expected members of the gut flora (e.g. Escherischia coli). Accepting all these caveats, there is a wealth of published evidence that indicates that a diet rich in fibre and natural oligosacharides does appear to promote healthier gut function and that prebiotic foods do tend to encourage a gut flora that is more adept at maintaing a helthy gut (and thus a more healthy organism) than other diets. The advertsing hype about "good" bacteria replacing "bad" bacteria doesn't appear to have any scientific basis except at the simplest level that encouraging a normal natural flora must in some way displace a less satisfactory flora. I can find no evidence that either prebiotics or probiotics have any capability in allowing non-pathogenic bacteria to surplant pathogenic bacteria. I would suggest that the body's normal defences would be responsible for any action like that. The conclusion wouldtherefore be that a diet rich in prebiotics is much more likely to be beneficial than harmful but some individuals may have adverse reactions to some specific prebiotics. There is much less clarity whether a similar conclusion could be reached with regard to proprietary probiotic formulations. Velela 11:37, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Fibersure advertisement?
I was reading this and I felt that this didn't meet typical standards:
"Inulin can be found in commerically available products such as Fibersure from the Makers of Metamucil. Fibersure is a fiber supplement powder that can be added to foods or beverages without changing the taste or texture. It performs well in cooking and baking applications and can be an easy way to add additional fiber to the diet through foods and drinks."
It would seem alright to mention that there are dietary supplements containing inulin commercially available such as Fibersure (link).. but beyond that in the "performs well in cooking and baking applications and can be an easy way to add additional fiber" it begins to lose focus on the article and redirect it at a given product (which would be okay on the product's own article if it has one) for which the author was obviously promoting.
- I have editied the artice to remove the following language: "without changing the taste or texture. It performs well in cooking and baking applications and can be an easy way to add additional fiber to the diet through foods and drinks" as it seems to border on a promotional advertisement. --Burntnickel 16:35, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Allergic reactiion reference
I'd like to cite, under the "Health Risks" section, the abstract I found here, but I'm not entirely sure how. The site just mentions the abstract, and I haven't been able to find the article, or the abstract, anywhere else. Advice? --Popefelix 20:47, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Inulin and heat
Inulin breaks down with heat into fructose. Could anyone find some precise numbers on this? --72.208.96.44 (talk) 21:28, 19 November 2007 (UTC)
