Inulin Reduces Blood Glucose Rise After a Sugar-Reduced Meal, New Study Finds

30 Mar 2017 --- Co-financed research between three leaders in the inulin & oligofructose market, Cosucra, Sensus, and Beneo, has led to the submission of a dossier for an EU Art. 13.5 claim linking oligofructose (chicory inulin) and improved blood glucose response after intake. 

The dossier presented to EFSA was based on new proprietary studies showing that, when a proportion of the sugars in a product is replaced by chicory inulin it leads to a lower blood glucose response after intake.

The clinical trials were carried by Helen Lightowler and Sangeetha Thondre from the Functional Food Centre at the Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, UK. The trials followed a randomized, double-blind, controlled cross-over design with 40 to 42 healthy adults.

Both compared blood glucose and insulin responses of foods that were identical in composition yet contained either full sugar, or the sugar had been partially replaced with inulin. The first study included a yoghurt drink in a portion of 250g, in which 20% of the sucrose was replaced with oligofructose (Orafti P95).

The second study included a 110g portion of fruit jelly in which 30% of the sucrose was replaced with inulin (Orafti GR). A 16% reduction in blood glucose response was noted and the insulin response was reduced by a dramatic 40%.

The authors stated that: “Lowering the blood glucose response to food products with chicory inulin or oligofructose, instead of sugars, could contribute to prevention and reducing the risk of chronic metabolic diseases.”

“With the suitable properties of oligofructose and inulin as sugar replacers in food products, this could be achieved without compromise in taste and sensory qualities which is essential for the acceptance of such food products by consumers in their everyday life.”

In a recent interview with NutritionInsight, Iwan Blankers, the CEO of Sensus, explained how his company has been innovating the chicory root fiber space to better cater for the sweetener market.

“After you extract inulin there are still insoluble fibers present in the root which we currently extract, but we try to market as a food ingredient,” Blankers said.

“But I’d say our bread and butter is really to modify and get different versions of the inulin range that is present in the chicory root.”

“This will give texture and provide sweetness in the shorter chain of the fibers – this is our play at the moment.”

“One of the innovations that we are working on is to get a sweet fiber powder that has more sweetness because it has those shorter texture fibers.”

He adds, “Usually they come as a liquid but we are now working on a technology to get them as a powder.”

According to Blankers, this technology is in development, currently at commercial manufacture stage – “I am confident that we will have it on the market soon,” he adds.

Mid last year, a health claim related to non-digestible carbohydrates and a reduction of post-prandial glycaemic responses was validated for use on packaging in Europe.

In the case of chicory inulin or oligofructose, the final wording is the following: “Consumption of foods/drinks containing inulin or oligofructose (or chicory root fibre) instead of sugars induces a lower blood glucose rise after their consumption compared to sugar-containing foods/drinks”.

The condition of use is to replace minimum 30% sugars by non-digestible carbohydrates, in particular inulin or oligofructose. However, those studies demonstrated that a reduced glycaemic response was obtained when only 20% of sugars were replaced, the conditions of use proposed in the evaluation refer to a 30% sugar replacement (ie. the minimum to get a ‘sugar replacement’ claim in Europe).