What do the inulin references tell us?
Science shows us inulin is a mixture of chains of fructose molecules capped with a glucose molecule, with the fructose chains ranging from 2 to 60 units long. It is a natual polymer, thus its indigestibility in the human gut, with the ‘degree of polymerization’ (DP) averaging about 9 purely because it contains some sugar and some short-chain FOS. However, the DP of commercial FOS (fructooligosaccharides) averages only 3.7. As previouly mentioned, many bad organisms make the specific enzyme required to break FOS down and use it; this is detailed in the first few pages of Tungland’s review below. Long-chain Inulin with short-chain FOS and sugar removed averages DP 22. Again, unlike the shorter-chain FOS and sugars that can be used by many bacteria, the longer chains, even within “native inulin”, cannot be used by harmful bacteria because they do not produce the enzyme required to break it down. The table below shows the results of several studies that compared FOS-free, sugar-free inulin
