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Frequently asked Questions about Inulation
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| What is Inulation? Inulation is a natural, non-digestible, soluble dietary fiber extracted from the root of the chicory plant (Chicorium intybus) Inulation® is a natural, Kosher, functional food ingredient extracted from the root of a common vegetable, the chicory plant, Cichorium intybus L. Inulin is a natural fructooligosaccharide (FOS) that aids and assists many of the human body's key metabolic functions. Inulin is found in over 36,000 plant species worldwide and after starch, it is the most plentiful carbohydrate occurring in nature. It has extensive historical human use through the consumption of edible fruits, vegetables and grains such as bananas, tomatoes, onions, garlic, artichokes, asparagus, barley, wheat and rye. |
| Will Inulation help my stomach? Inulation – (Inulin) feeds the beneficial microorganisms indigenous to our GI tracts Inulin is a natural fructooligosaccharide (FOS) that is said to aid and assist many of the human body’s key metabolic functions. |
| How does the Prebiotic Inulation work?
Extensive research has shown the inulin molecules, like those in Inulation® - Inulin, upon ingestion are not digested in the stomach or the small intestine and arrive unchanged in the colon. There they serve as selective prebiotic food for the resident good bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli for their better survival, viability, growth and proliferation. When these good bacteria proliferate, they produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and lactic acid lower your intestinal pH, making your intestinal environment unsuitable for undesirable bacteria and certain enzymes that are a common source of several health problems. As your lower intestinal environment becomes uninhabitable for bad bacteria, they can no longer survive, creating a positive balance of good bacteria as compared to the bad bacteria, and as a consequence, several health benefits may be experienced. |
| What does Inulation do? As a dietary supplement, Inulin is used to create a healthy bacterial balance in the stomach and lower intestine and colon. Inulin is a prebiotic formula. This means that it feeds the beneficial microorganisms in our digestive tract, as opposed to introducing new bacteria (which is what probiotic formulas do), an example of a probiotic would be that good bacteria found in yogurt. In simple terms, it gives the good bacteria food to live and grow on, and the "good guys" beat out the bad guys. Since Inulin is non-digestible, it reaches the colon unchanged, where healthy bacteria - such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli - use it as food. This lowers the pH level in the colon, creating an unfavorable environment for unhealthy bacteria - such as E.coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus. An imbalance in the intestinal tract, typified by low numbers of "the good guys" and high numbers of "the bad guys", has been associated with, if not the cause of a number of human pathogens, including: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Stomach problems, Yeast Infections, Urinary Tract Infections (UTI), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Pancreatitis, Vaginitis, Ear Infections, Crone’s Disease, Constipation, Lupus, Breast Cancer, Ulcerative Colitis, Cirrhosis of the Liver, Acne, Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), Psoriasis. |
| How do these organisms work? The beneficial organisms exert their positive effects by enhancing digestion and improving lactose intolerance, promoting the recycling of compounds such as estrogen, synthesizing vitamins (largely the B-group), releasing immune-stimulating compounds, inhibiting the metabolisms of disease-producing organisms to help eliminate both human and bacterial toxins. |
| How can I help maintain the beneficial bacteria in my gut? Maintaining populations of beneficial bacteria consistent with good intestinal health requires many lifestyle factors be avoided such as prolonged use of antibiotics which kill beneficial bacteria, antiseptic supplements which can decrease levels of beneficial bacteria if taken for long periods of time and diets high in animal products and low in vegetable fiber. Also, over consumption of refined carbohydrates can feed harmful bacteria and can disrupt the GI tract and can even lead to the overgrowth of Candida albicans yeast infections. In order to realize benefits from beneficial bacteria ingested as probiotic supplements in the food we consume or those naturally growing in the GI tract, it is important that they be selectively nourished by food that helps them survive, multiply and remain viable - prebiotics serve this function. This is where Inulation comes in. |
| Can Inulation be used with probiotics like Threelac? Yes. Inulation is an all-natural prebiotic that can be used alone or in combination with probiotics, producing a symbiotic, synergistic effect. |
| Why are prebiotics of such value? To understand the health importance of prebiotic like Inulation, we must first understand the importance of intestinal bacteria on human health. The human colon is by far the most heavily colonized region of the digestive tract, with up to 1012 bacteria for every gram of intestinal content, comprised of one hundred different species of both beneficial and potentially deleterious bacteria in a balance affecting how we digest food and obtain energy. The main types of generally recognized beneficial bacteria, the bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, constitute at best a little more than one-third of the bacterial population inhabiting the GI tract. However, at worst they may be so low in numbers that they are not detectable. Of these types the number of bifido-bacterium are regarded as the marker of the stability of the human intestinal microflora. These beneficial microflora play critical roles in all aspects of our immunological responses, by either helping to resist infection, or by creating pathogenic conditions by their low number. These beneficial bacteria act as wards regulating the activity of the other bacteria in the colon. The other bacteria, such as Salmonella, Shigella, Clostridium, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Camylobacter jejuni and E. coli, are typically much less numerous and have varying potentials to cause disease. Beneficial bacteria keep these potential disease-causing organisms under control, preventing several disease-related dysfunctions related to an unbalanced gastrointestinal situation. The beneficial organisms exert their positive effects by enhancing digestion and improving lactose intolerance, promoting the recycling of compounds such as estrogen, synthesizing vitamins (largely the B-group), releasing immune-stimulating compounds, inhibiting the metabolisms of disease-producing organisms to eliminate both human and bacterial toxins and carcinogens. |
| What do low numbers of beneficial bacteria in the GI tract
indicate? An unbalanced GI situation, typified by low numbers of beneficial bacteria and high numbers of pathogenic organisms, have been associated with: auto-immune dysfunctions such as ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis, Grave's disease, Lupus, dermatomyositis, psoriasis, pancreatitis, breast cancer, Candida albicans over growth, vaginitis, urinary tract infections, cirrhosis of the liver, acne, constipation, food poisoning, ear infections antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD), inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, colorectal cancer, necrotizing entercolitis and ileocecitis, digestive problems, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and PMS. |
| Has there been any research on Inulin? Yes a great deal. Recent in vitro and in vivo research has shown that inulin selectively stimulates beneficial bacterial growth equal to or surpassing that of its short-chain synthetic counterparts, FOS/oligofructose in magnitude. Human experiments conducted by Gibson et al. (1995) at the Dunn Clinical Nutrition Center (UK) have shown that ingestion of moderate bifidobacteria, rendering them the numerically predominant specie in feces and colon. Beneficial lactobacilli are also stimulated, but to a lesser extent. At the same time, the numbers of undesirable bacteria stagnate or decrease, the total bacterial count remaining essentially unchanged. This shows that each gram of inulin stimulates the metabolism and selectively increases the activity of healthy intestinal bacteria, potentially leading to healthier, more well-balanced colon. |
| What do you mean by Inulation being Non-digestible? Inulation (Prebiotic) is a soluble dietary fiber, resisting digestion by mammalian alimentary secretions, alpha-amylase, and disaccharides such as maltase, isomaltase, sucrase and lactase. However, when it reaches the lower intestinal tract, it is selectively utilized by resident bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli (probiotics) helping them to grow and develop rapidly. Inulin is not digested by humans, but rather reaches the colon intact where it is fermented by beneficial bacteria residing in the colon, producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and lactic acid. |
| Is inulin safe for Diabetics? Inulation neutral in odor and taste, contributing only a marginally sweet taste, about 10% of sucrose, but only provides a limited number of calories. Upon digestion, inulin is not hydrolyzed into monosaccharide moieties in the upper intestinal tract and enters the large intestine almost unchanged. As a result, inulin has a glycemic index of zero, neither increasing the glycemy nor the insuolin levels in the blood, making it an ideal food for diabetics. The use of inulin as food for diabetics is documented since early this century. |
| What is the calorie content of Inulation? Inulin only makes a modest indirect caloric contribution through the caloric value of its fermentation products in the colon. However, when metabolized in this manner, the efficiency is much lower than when carbohydrates are digested by enzymes, absorbed from the small intestine and directly metabolized by the liver. Inulation has been shown to have a caloric value of about 1.6kcal/g. Moreover, research suggests, like some other physiological dietary fibers, inulin may also affect the small intestinal transit of other nutrients into the colon, thus reducing their caloric value. Because Inulation has by nature an average degree of polymerization of 9 and a molecular weight of about 1600, functioning physiologically as other naturally-occurring shorter-chain FOS. However, it also contains longer chain fractions providing for superior intestinal tolerance and performance for several food rheological applications, such as for fat replacement, to further reduce dietary calories. |
| Can Inulation help with weight loss? Inulin suppresses appetite and mediates carbohydrate and lipid metabolism for relatively long periods of time. Inulin, a complex non-digestible carbohydrate is slowly metabolized, being fermented by colon microflora to produce SCFAs and lactic acid that the body uses for long-term energy, rather than the normal metabolic pathway for digestible carbohydrates, involving breakdown by digestive enzymes and relatively rapid absorption in the small intestine. This slow method of metabolism has the advantage of providing a glycemic index of zero, preventing hunger based on the fact that an individual does not enter a hypoglycemic state. Research suggests, in addition to appetite suppression, the SCFAs (particularly propionic acid) increase glycolysis and decrease gluconeogenesis, normalizing blood glucose levels over extended periods of time and help to reduce lipo-genesis, reducing blood lipid levels, particularly low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and triglycerides. Research further suggests these SCFAs inhibit fat production by regulating the key enzyme, carnitine acyltransferase, that converts calories into fat. Normally, after a meal, carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles to be used by the body for energy. When glycogen stores become full, the brain receives a message signaling the body to convert excess carbohydrate to fat. Studies indicate the inulin temporarily regulates this process, resulting in over time a significant reduction in plasma triglyceride, phospholipid and cholesterol levels, primarily the low-density lipoprotein fraction (LDL), while not affecting the beneficial high-density lipoprotein (HDL) fraction, as consequence the HDL/LDL ratio is improved. |
| Can Inulation help boost mineral absorption?
Yes. Inulin, a non-digestible complex carbohydrate, upon ingestion reaches the colon unchanged. There, it is quantitatively fermented by endogenous micro-flora, principally the bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. Inulin-mineral complexes (if any) are degraded during this fermentation process, liberating the ions and making them available for absorption. In addition, SCFAs and lactic acid produced by fermentation acidify the colon lumen, lowering its pH by 1 - 2 units. They solubility/bioavailability of many mineral salts, particularly divalent salts, is markedly enhanced by this pH drop. Moreover, research suggests that SCFAs, especially butyrate, stimulates proliferation of colon epithelial cells, thereby increasing absorptive capacity of the epithelium, stimulating absorption of water and electrolytes for improved sports nutrition. |
| What does Inulation taste like? Inulation - is neutral in odor and taste and only has 1.6kcal/g. |
| How can Inulation assist women?
As women age, their bodies go through several biological changes, requiring
special help to ease the transitions and minimize potential detrimental effects
on health along the way, such as osteoporosis, yeast infections (Candida
albicans overgrowth), vaginitis, urinary tract infections, cancer, intestinal
gas and bloating, PMS and post-Menopausal afflictions. |
| DISCLAIMER - Digestive problems may be a sign of a more serious condition. Always seek the assistance of your physician first. None of the information is intended to treat, diagnose or cure. This is purely educational. |
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