Inulin is not digested or absorbed in the stomach. It travels to the bowels where bacteria are able to use it to grow. It supports the growth of healthy bacteria, which are associated with supporting digestion, improving bowel function and general health.
Inulin decreases the body's ability to store certain kinds of fats and releases an acid, which enters the body and slowly reduces internal fat (visceral fat). Visceral fat is body fat that is stored around internal organs, such as the heart, liver, pancreas and intestines. This can cause numerous health problems.
It would be necessary to eat unrealistic quantities of lentils and pulses daily to get similar benefits that supplementing your diet with Inulin provides. Adding Inulin to the diet has been shown to help reduce fat absorption by up to 50%.
All Inulin is not the same, because Inulin is composed of a mixture of oligomers and polymers with different degrees of polymerisation. What this means is that the composition of inulin in terms of chain length depends on its source. Chicory root Inulin/Native Chicory Inulin has a relatively longer chain than other types or sources of Inulin. This provides several advantages over Inulin with shorter chain lengths.
Inulin can therefore also aid weight loss and lower cholesterol.
Types of Inulin: Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) and Inulin
Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) and Inulin are comprised of -(glucose-fructose)- subunits. The difference between FOS and Inulin is the polymer chain length. FOS being a short chain and Inulin a long chain.