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Frutafit® Inulin
Fructans, Inulin, and FructooligosaccharidesIngredient Labeling
A Natural Prebiotic for Health
For Weight Management and Sports Nutrition Systems
For Geriatric Applications and General Health Aid
For Female Health Applications
Frutafit® is the trade name used by Imperial-Suiker Unie, LLC for inulin, a natural functional food ingredient extracted from the root of the chicory plant, Cichorium intybus.
Inulin, containing natural fructooligosaccharides (FOS), is the native energy-reserve carbohydrate found in more than 36,000 plants world-wide and has an extensive documented historical human use as foodstuffs. Some common sources of Inulin are Onion (2-6%), Garlic (9-16%), Leek (3-10%), Banana (0.3-0.7%), Asparagus (10-15%), Jerusalem artichokes (15-20%), Chicory (13-20%), and even wheat (1-4%) - several portions of each of these foods would be required in order to consume a few grams of inulin. Inulin, a fructan, has chain length distribution of this fructose polymer, known as degree of polymerization ("DP"), that varies according to plant source, type of climate, time of harvest, and the duration and conditions of post-harvest storage. The DP of inulin can range from 2 to greater than 60 - Frutafit® having an average DP of 9. Compared to starch, cellulose, or any dietary fiber, which have molecular weights of several thousands to tens of thousands, oligosaccharides typically have low DP, and consequently have low molecular weight, up to about 3500. Frutafit® Inulin has an average molecular weight of approximately 1600, as defined by its DP.
The most common fractions of the various naturally-occurring chain length species of "inulins" are referred to as inulin, oligofructose, and fructooligosaccharides (FOS). Definitions for these various fractions can vary, depending on the DP - however, generally, naturally-occurring FOS have DP varying from two to 35, oligofructose may have a DP of 2 to 20, while fructose polymers with a DP in excess of 30 are referred to as inulin (McKellar and Modler 1989; Roberfroid, et al. 1993). Those FOS containing mixtures of GF2, GF3, and GF4 sugars and a DP of 3-5 ("neosugars"), are not naturally-occurring by are enyzmatically synthesized from sucrose by action of an enzyme from the fungus Aspergillus niger. Naturally occurring FOS can be the energy-reserve carbohydrate in plants, but are typically built as intermediates to longer chain inulins for the plant to use as storage energy, or are produced at the expense of inulin breakdown due to microbial degradation, plant ripening, crop storage. Because Frutafit® Inulin has by nature an average DP of 9 and molecular weight of 1600 it functions nutritionally as other naturally-occurring shorter-chain FOS, but also contains longer chain fractions providing for improved performance both functionally in several food applications as well as providing a well-tolerated substrate for physiological well-being and improved health.
It is Frutafit's® relatively long chain-length that allows it to gel efficiently and act as a rheology modifier in food applications, such as in fat replacement. Frutafit's® longer chain length also makes it more easily tolerated by the human intestinal system, as compared with much shorter chain fructooligosaccharides (Tokunaga, Oku, and Hosoya 1986).
Inulin is nondigestible by humans and functions physiologically as a soluble DIETARY FIBER -- not generating a glycemic (blood sugar) effect -- smoothing the blood glucose levels over relatively long periods and thus improving glucose tolerance. Inulin is diabetic friendly. Also, as inulin is not digested by humans it can be used as a PREBIOTIC for the specific purpose of enhancing beneficial intestinal bacteria, such as Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus. Bifidobacteria are naturally present in the large intestine of man and animals. In the gut of adults, several species of these healthy bacteria make up about 25% of the total bacterial population, while in breast-fed infants tbis share is as high as 95%. Bifidobacteria, as well as another group of healthy bacteria, the Lactobacilli, are used as PROBIOTICS in dairy starter cultures. Bifidobacteria and lactobacilli are generally regarded as beneficial to health. Bifidobacteria stimulate immune function, produce class-B complex vitamins, and suppress tbe growth of certain pathogenic gut bacteria and reduce their putrefactive substances such as ammonia, phenol, amines, indole, skatol and cresol. This is believed to be the main reason why breast-fed infants suffer less intestinal infections than bottle-fed infants. Inulin cannot be used effectively by harmful bacteria, such as Clostridium and E. coli, and selectively nourishes the growth of probiotics, especially bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. Recent human experiments conducted by Gibson et al. (1995) at the Dunn Clinical Nutrition Center (UK) demonstrated that a daily intake of 15 grams inulin during 15 days renders Bifidus the numerically predominant species in feces and colon, while stagnating or decreasing numbers of bacteroides, fusobacteria, clostridia and colifoms -- leaving the total bacterial count essentially unchanged. Inulin was also shown to selectivdy stimulate proliferation of bifidobacteria equal to, if not surpasses, that of its short-chain synthetic counterpart FOS/oligofructose in magnitude. In addition, Frutafit's® relatively long fructose chain-length can also provide a greater number of available carbohydrate units to be used for beneficial bacterial growth, as compared with shorter-chain oligosaccharides. Furthermore, unlike other plant oligosaccharides, such as soy, inulin does not contain carbohydrates raffinose or stachyose that are attributed with causing encessive gas formation.
Used in combination with probiotics to produce a SYNBIOTIC, inulin, a prebiotic, may provide an effective ingredient for a technique tbat ultimately produces improved survival of live bacteria in food products resulting in prolonged shelf life, and by consequence reduce current limitations of probiotics.
Inulin, functioning physiologically as a soluble dietary fiber, also shortens fecal transit time, slightly increases fecal bulk, reduces constipation, has been shown to reduce both serum and hepatic cholesterol and triglycerides in rats, and may provide improved absorption of minerals necessary to human metabolism, such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and phosphate.