Inulin is polymeric fructose:
Unlike cellulose (another sugar polymer, which comprises such indigestibles as wood), inulin is quite soluble. To you, it's almost entirely undigestible, and so is one of the "soluble fibers" in your diet.
You can find inulin in various plants, such as jicama, onions, and the Jerusalem artichoke. Because of its relative indigestibility, enzymes in your gut often take advantage of its ready availability and digest it. This can increase the population of bacteria in your GI; because of this, inulin is often termed a "probiotic." This is something of a euphemism; an army of bacteria munching away on a ready carbon source are breathing just like you; this means they're producing carbon dioxide, and they do it in spades.
One gram of carbohydrate, if it's metabolized entirely to carbon dioxide, will produce nearly 700mL of CO2! Considering your average fart is on the order of 100mL, and you might take in multiple grams of inulin from a supplement or serving of Jerusalem artichoke, it can be a noisy polysaccharide indeed.
Inulin is also notable because it's one of not too many sugars with a negative heat of hydration; that is, it releases heat upon dissolving in your mouth. If you eat inulin powder dry (as you might when tasting certain hippie sugar substitutes), you'll notice a pronounced warmth.
The estimable Harold McGee covers inulin and the Jerusalem artichoke in his excellent The Curious Cook, a lesser-read companion to his book, On Food and Cooking.
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Note, inulin and fructose can be use in food by diabetics without limitation
Inulin is also used as a physiological measure of glomerular filtration rate because it is freely filtered by the kidney. Moreover, it is not absorbed, created, consumed or secreted by the kidney.
However, since it is not a normal part of our diet, we don't use it as a clinical marker of kidney function.
100 mL, huh? I guess Roast Beef was closer to the mark than he thought.
What is the basis of the claim that diabetics can use inulin and frutose "freely"? Are there still carbohydrates to be counted? Does it just not act quite the same as sucrose and glucose??? Won't they still be made into glucose in the body? Thank you for help in understanding this.