Inulin

Just another one of my comments on a post at forum.lowcarber.or regarding inulin

Beebuzz,

Is it Good, Bad or ugly??

Just found some crystal light sweetened with inulin and acesulfame-K. 3g of fiber?? Can I safely have glass (as long as it doesnt give me cravings?)?

Me:

Hi Beebuzz,

I make no bones about it, I’m against all artificial sweeteners and despite what the industry tries to tell us of how natural it is, in point of fact, inulin when you look at how the commercial versions of it are made, is 100% artificial. And as a compound it hold quite a sneaky little secret because even the naturally-occurring inulins are made up mainly of fructose; lots of little fructose units chained together and obviously those chains break down within our digestive system and the fructose is absorbed by the body. But that would only be about 25 to 30% of it though; the rest of course is fiber.

The thing about inulin is that it is also considered to be a form of soluble fiber, more specifically it’s a fermentable fiber and it’s this ability that it has to ferment within our stomach that can lead to many having gas and bloating. It also provides an ideal home for unwelcome bacteria to grow on as it passes through our intestinal system.

So to answer your question, is it good, bad or ugly? Well I would award it bad and ugly. I would certainly steer away from it. In my book, nothing comes close to the usefulness of Stevia, one of the safest sugar substitutes I know of.

Hope that helps,

Mark