Could anyone tell me if it would be ok to add inulin to breakfast shakes – looking at the nutritional values 5gms is suggested daily serving giving 4.5gm carbohydrate and 0.4gm sugar – would this be of any benefit ?

Hi, its new to me has been known about for over 210 years, but I heard Angela Rippon mention it on BBC then missed what it was for. I checked the Wikipedia page and I do not think I will be needing any in the foreseeable future.

Be really interested to know if it would be OK to have this on this diet. Apparently it helps to reduce visceral fat.

Hi deb71, a while ago I read up about inulin and bought it ( from the chemist ) started adding it to my loiwcal shakes, I didn’t notice any difference in weightloss or hunger. What I do know is that I prefer whole food rather than a shake.

Hi thanks for your responses – in the morning I make up the blueberry and green tea shake from the book which I find keeps me going ok until lunchtime (only time I have shakes) as I don’t have time to cook breakfast before work I also have a very fatty liver and heard like Mariagm26 that it helps break down internal fat however that you need to take it daily for a prolonged time – if anyone knows any more about using this it would be great to hear your comments

Hi there 🙂 I also watched Angela Ripon’s piece on Inulin and Visceral fat. I thought it has to be a good thing and immediately got to work researching. I didn’t fancy sprinkling it on foods, so have gone the natural root. I have added Chicory salad to almost every meal and have purchase Chicory root. If you read about the health benefits I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I am not a diabetic however so do not have to monitor Carbs etc. I am 49, have healthy cholesterol levels, liver kidney function good too, but cannot seem to get my blood pressure down. So am trying like billy-oh to do it with food before Doc intervenes 🙁

I would really like to know more about the inulin effect before trying it. We could do with an answer from Michael on this one!! I am growing chicory plants this year – but it was to add the leaves and flowers to salads – and they’re pretty to look at!! 🙂

Hi, I too am very interested if finding out more about Inulin. I saw Angela Ripon talking about this on the recent programme and ordered some which arrived today, if Michael or anybody in the know could give us a heads up about it’s use it would be much appreciated as it would be good to get an evidence based approach to it’s consumption and dosage. Also, I believe it’s the roots and not the leaves Hashimoto that this is produced from……seems a shame to dig them up though. I think all of us BSDers are doing what we can to keep as healthy as possible but when you saw the lifestyle and how well Angela did with all the other tests the TOFI thing came as a bit of a wake up call to a lot of us.

Hi Happywife – I saw the same Angela Rippon programme. I know it’s the roots but I am the very devil for adding edible leaves, flowers and seeds to salads etc. Even certain weeds in my garden are not safe from the pan! Nettle soup? Delicious and nutritious. Then there is the pesky goose grass, that’s been wilted in my frying pan more than once 😉

I’d also like to know about the efficacy of inulin 🙂

Morning Hashimoto, thanks for reply. Did a bit of research on sources of Inulin and natural sources include asparagus, garlic, leeks, onion and wild yams amongst other veg – only fruit mentioned was bananas. So, can conclude that it’s all the flatulence inducing grub that does the trick. This could be bad news for me as this morning I have bitten the bullet – or should say swallowed the rocket and had some psyllium husks (in water with a water chaser) first thing and then about 6 gms of Inulin in some kefir (fermented milk) a couple of hours later. Have Pilates class booked for this afternoon……….could be interesting.

Hi, I saw the programme as well, I thought I remembered her pointing out to two dishes one was in lentils and the other chickpeas, and saying it is in both, but that you needed an awful lot of both to get the full benefits?
I was disappointed that the programme did not mention the low carb approach to losing visceral fat taken in MM’s book, especially since Chris van Tulleken was co-presenting!

So, here goes on a little self experiment. On Monday I started taking the Inulin daily (6 gms) and I went to the gym where there is a fancy pants machine called a Boditrax, this is supposed to give all sorts of readings – fat percentage, fat mass and visceral fat among other things. I hadn’t been on the machine for 4 weeks and it showed that although I had lost nearly 2 kilos (no was not following BSD properly until last week) the fat percentage had gone up by 0.2 my fat mass had gone down by 0.5 and the visceral fat reading had stayed the same. So fellow BSDers I will give it another month on the diet and taking the Inulin and report back on results on the visceral fat reading. Honestly not sure if this machine can do what it says it can but as it hadn’t reduced the visceral fat reading as a result of the 2kg weight loss think it may be worth a go. Has anyone got any experience with these machines and their accuracy?

Hi Happywife, I am a bit sceptical of these machines, for fat percentages at least, they rely on a constant percentage hydration. If you get a fat percentage reading one week then take one the next week and are less hydrated, you cannot compare the two. I think the dehydration pushes up the fat percentage (from memory – others please correct it if is the other way around). If you tend to be consistently hydrated and take the measurements at the same time of day, then you may be ok. You should also see the hydration reading on the output from the scales.
The house scales I have state I should weight myself at around 3pm as that is the best time for being hydrated. Needless to say I don’t tend to be around the scales at that time of day! First thing in the morning, the fat %age varies and I can see the hydration also varies, with no real relation to the weight loss shown on the scales.
What my scales also give me is a reading of visceral fat – score of 1-20 , there 12 and under is you are at an ‘ok’ level. I have been on 12 since I got the scales last year. I assumed, these were unlikely to be very accurate after reading about the hydration and %age fat. However, the score has gone down to 10 in the last 8 weeks since I have been following the 800 plan – as an indicator – it is in the right direction. Is it accurate – don’t know.
The scales, however are accurate, consistent and I can step off and on and get the same reading. My old scales, if I stepped on and did not like the weight, I stepped off and on again and it usually obliged and gave a lower reading :-).

Hi, I also saw the Stay Young program with Angelo Rippon sprinkling Inulin onto her food to reduce visceral fat. Have been looking for any info but there is very little. Sometimes it is said it is made from chicory and sometimes pulses. I am a bit disappointed that the program did not give more information as there is now obviously a lot of interest about this product. If there is any chance it works on visceral fat, I’m in. I am diabetic but not particularly overweight, but I do have visceral fat.
Amazon sales of Inulin have rocketed with many companies using the “As used by Angela Rippon” slogan – but, does it work ????
Please Michael – your views ….

Tanita scale co. recommends weighing 2 hours before evening meal, so 5pm for me to get some sort of consistency.
Orchid you are right – dehydration [and everything else] affects fat measure – mine is + 2% first thing in the morning.
I bought my own machine to get to know my weight/fat etc., even if they are estimates, a bit better. And its keeping me entertained and motivated. It was cheaper than an MRI scan…

Happywife I’ll be interested in how you get on with inulin. I think you’ll be lucky to notice a short-term meaningful change in visceral fat as measured on such machines, but should see a drop longer-term. The main thing is to lose weight and you should notice a difference in waist measurement. On diabetes UK it says:

“A relatively good indicator of visceral fat is to take a waistline measurement. Harvard University note around 10% of our total fat is likely to be stored as visceral fat, therefore if you are carrying higher amounts of body fat than is recommended, it is therefore more likely that you are also storing more visceral fat than is healthy.”

My first weigh day was at 9am on a Saturday so I’ve kept things the same up to now.
I did jump on the scales at the chemist one afternoon as I was picking up a prescription and I had gained 4 pounds!
Goes to show how you can fluctuate over the course of a day.

Like everyone I was intrigued by Angela Rippon’s recommendation of Inulin and have also done some Internet research. I was interested, therefore, to read about a study of Inulin https://nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12986-015-0033-2 to find the the dose they recommended to make a difference was 30 grams a day and that it needs to be taken for at least three months to see a differnce!! Has anyone tried this much and what side affects did they find – did their digestion settle down or were the flatulents socially unacceptable? I am also wondering how on earth scales can indicate the level of visceral fat, which can only be seen on a MRI scan,. Angela Rippon proved that using ratios are misleading as her BMI and body fat measurements were optimum but an MRI showed high levels of visceral fat? Does anyone know if the type of Inulin can make a difference and if there is any regulatory body controlling the sale of this, so that we can be sure the product contains what it purports to contain?

Instead of buying inulin, I am buying vegetables with high natural content of inulin in them. So we now eat Chicory Salad leaves everyday and I mix 2tsps of Chicory Root Powder with Fresh OJ. At least this way I can control what I am consuming and gaining the health benefits.

Both my husband & I are on the BSD and have picked up on the inulin debate, an article which appears to be based upon a randomised trial is at https://nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com – I input – inulin visceral fat – into my search engine & it pulled that up. Interesting reading especially the variance in results on visceral fat from those taking the inulin v cellulose, we are now sprinkling it onto our yoghurt/berries along with psyllium husk every morning.

Chicory leaves are one of the (only) 3 veggies I cannot stand, and as the compound comes from the roots I am happy to use the powder instead of fighting the gag reflex every time I eat the leaves in a salad!!

Evidently some more solid research studies are needed and will be interesting to see if this features on an episode of Trust Me I’m a Doctor later in the year!

Thank you, FiFiP and GrannyMo for this interesting link to the paper about the inulin research.

I actually like chicory, but i see that the inulin is derived from the chicory root, so not so sure how much is obtained from the leaves themselves. If I decide to take the inulin, I will buy a supplement, which is readily available on the net, I see.

By the way, Sammy1967, are you calculating in the sugar effect of your OJ in the morning? Does this not take your sugar/carbs too high?

Hi. I have just found this forum. I also watched the Angela Rippon programme. It said that whilst inulin was in chick peas and other foods the quantities we would need to consume to help lose internal fat were too vast to be practical, so this concentrated fibre was recommended. No “dose” was suggested. From looking at internet it seemed that 20g per day was normal, but one study showed diabetics reducing blood sugar by 10% with 30g per day. I started taking inulin about a month ago, but have had to increase dose gradually from 5g up to current 20g, due to initial increased bowel activity and later flatulence. Have no weight loss so far, but blood sugar level has dropped. I have scales that show internal fat, but I think too early to expect any significant result yet. I will check soon though and post again.

Hi all, I have read this with interest. Last week I went into my wholefood shop to buy inulin, but noticed on the labelling that there was a high glucose content. One of the other makes labels did not mention glucose, but the ingredients were exactly the same…..it would seem that essentially chicory root is full of sugars. I discussed this with the very clued up assistant who thought it unsuitable for pre-diabetics and T2’s. . . she had apparently researched it as she herself was pre-diabetic (and overweight). I had noticed one source of organic inulin on line and I suppose I could have contacted them to request info about the contents but concluded I would manage without! So probably a good idea to research thoroughly, although Tivytowner I have no explanation for your lowered bs level….very good news though. I have taken up running (NHS couch to 5 K), first time I have run in 50 years and am now as skinny as I was as a teenager (when I hitch hiked and spent my bus and lunch monies on a diet of cheap fags). So I am hoping visceral fat has gone! Would be interested if anyone discovers any further news about inulin sugars? Cheers Tofa

Hi! I am no medical professional, but there are interesting papers on-line about inulin + it’s benefits. As with most ‘alternative’ supplements there are arguments for + against.

My chemist (highly qualified), recommends it, however it might be an idea to field this product to MM + the Trust Me I’m a Doctor team?

Hi, still interested in inulin and have read some of the research which says its a good thing. I had been doubtful because of its high starch content and thought it might be high carb but have found that Amazon sells “inulin fibre (chicory root) – LCFoods available from West Coast source”. It specifically says zero carbs and diabetic friendly ! Prices in dollars so clearly available in USA, so will continue to chase info about organic version in UK. Am wondering whether its possible to have visceral fat with a BMI bordering 20/21??? My BMI was previously 24. Without an expensive scan don’t know whether I have visceral fat. Sadly after 3 months still getting some fasting blood sugar readings of 6.3, 6.4 so still pre-diabetic although some more hopeful ones in the mid 5.’s. I also wondered about inulin as now I eat beans and pulses very sparsely compared to previously (vegetarian) to keep to carb targets. i.e very small amount of quinoa, lentils and chickpeas. I am largely dependent on fibres in veg which continue to have the more obvious desired effects…..!! Similarly wondered about taking Vit B complex ?? Tofa

Hi all. In reply to Tofa’s question, it seems that Angela Rippon has a healthy BMI, but her visceral fat was about 3X what was healthy, so the answer seems to be yes. On a parallel track studies by Prof Taylor of Newcastle University indicate that losing visceral fat from the pancreas can help it start producing insulin again, so the BG diet + inulin could be very helpful for diabetics, providing inulin does what is claimed. That’s what I am hoping for anyway!

Sorry, meant to add that BG readings in the 6-7 range would be wonderful news for many diabetics Tofa, so don’t be too discouraged. Apart from expensive scans, weighing machines which give visceral fat amounts are in a lot of public sports centres or you can buy a more modest version for £30ish. On mine it gives a healthy range of such fat as 1 – 12 and unhealthy as 13 – 69. A month ago my reading was 20 and after 4 weeks of average of 12.5g per day of inulin had dropped to 19. Now on 25g per day with daily target of 30 from next week so hope reduction will now be quicker, but apparently have to allow 6 months for dispersal. We will see.

Hi all!

I have now read more about Inulin than I ever want to again! The papers & research I have looked at on the web seem to b epretty unanamous – that in the trials it had pretty impressive results however I have yet to find a trial on diabetics, apparently it doesn’t raise your blood sugar see – fca.com/Inulin-super-nutrient-against-diabetes

This is interesting http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.govpubmed/10655953 – based upon 10g a day.

I find it very sweet & sticky, & can only manage to use it on my morning youghurt/seed sprinkle breakfast as there is no way I can get it to dissolve into a drink!

Since starting BSD and not eating carbs to any degree, any er…….’wind issues’…… (Sorry) vanished completely, but shall we say that Inulin has a ‘cart-horse’ effect…….you have been warned!!!

You said you found inulin sweet and sticky, but are you using pure inulin? At first I bought Stevia which contains inulin and it was impossibly sweet. Then I did a bit of research and found that pure inulin is only slightly sweet so I bought three tubes of it and it hardly sweetens or flavours food at all. Mine is marketed as Swainson’s ultra inulin powder and I got it off Amazon. I have interstitial fat and I have high hopes of the inilin tackling it. The problem is monitoring the internal fat. I am doubtful any set of scales can distinguish between ordinary and interstitial fat. I really think an MRI is the only way. If I’m wrong, please let me know as MRIs are expensive!

Sticky, sweet + guaranteed 100pc inulin, no added anything. Have persevered. Dire effect on bowels, awful, but reckon blood sugar more important than my bum…..

Fully concur re scales, MRI’s cheaper abroad, am investigating. Might try on nxt hols, better for me than idea of dodgy scales.

Where do I buy inulin from? X

Hi! I got mine from a local health food store, but you can buy it on the web.

I bought inulin from my health food shop a week ago, firstly, it has not given me the squits, and secondly, I have already lost 2lbs, I sprinkle mine on low fat yogurts. I haven’t had flatulence either, I wonder if that effect is the result of chickpeas?. My mobility is limited due to fibromyalgia, so I cannot attribute the weight loss to exercise, I plan to continue with inulin, it will be interesting to see if there is further weight loss.

Well done faolan. What amount are you taking? I am on 25g per day and still having flatulence after several weeks! I will report in due course on whether internal fat is being reduced. On Fibro my wife suffers and is looking at a course of K Laser class 4 therapy. Our local practitioner claims a 90% cure rate, cost is £300 for the 12 treatment course. To find a local treatment centre 0845 528 0336 or http://www.klaser.co.uk.

Hi, I was told, no more than two tsps a day, and that’s what I have. I can’t afford the fibro treatment, and tbh, I’m still not sure what causes it, my rhuematologist says PTSD, other causes given are, leaky gut, and lack of dopamine levels, if the cause could be nailed down, a cure would be found.

I”m using a tablespoon a day (a generous one) – have been using it for a while I am still ‘windy’ , and still find it very sweet but reckon the health benefits will out way short-term digestive issues.

For all of you who want more info about inulin:
Inulin 101 – A Prebiotic Fiber With Powerful Health Benefits https://authoritynutrition.com/inulin-prebiotic-fiber/
The 19 Best Prebiotic Foods You Should Eat https://authoritynutrition.com/19-best-prebiotic-foods/

Qunikydinky – I just started inulin today and came across this thread this evening.
I am taking inulin powder in water, and have started at 3 gm and will build up slowly to let my gut become accustomed to it.

I am very interested in the connection between the second brain (the guts) and insulin production. as posited in MM television documentary about the 800 diet.

I allowed myself to be persuaded that Braggs apple cider vinegar would compliment inulin, Don’t!, even well diluted it scorched my oesophagus and made me feel very very nauseous All Day!, so that went into the bin.
I’m continuing with the inulin on low fat yogurt, it reminds me of glucose powder, but isn’t it the same family?

I’m just taking mine with water, I tried cold water, but it got clumps in it, I now dissolve it in warm water and it dissolves fully. A couples of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before meals is meant to lessen the sugar spike of the meal, but just before the meal so the food stops the cider eating away the lining of your stomach!!!

Thanks Ziggy, I mix mine into my morning Gk Yoghurt, berries + seeds, that way I don’t notice the sweetness so much.

It’s like glue isn’t it!?

When I dissolve mine in water it doesn’t thicken up, but then I just down it all in one go straight after mixing. Must put some in a glass and leave it to see what happens.

Am I the only person on the forum who doesn’t take yoghurt? Well I tool my first one last week, but it was non fat, and people on the forum are taking them for the fat content. The other 3 non fat yuohurts in the pack are still in the fridge!

Be wary of which non fat or low fat yogurts you choose, some are thin, runny and taste of saccharin, really nasty.

Low-fat/non-fat products are loaded with sugar/carbs to make up the volume. Eat Fage/Total full-fat Greek yoghurt, fills you up, is natural + tastes like a dream!! Yum yum!

I love skyr, or yeo valley organic with honey, naughty but nice.

Well you see, I never could eat yoghurts, didn’t like them as a child, so never tried them since. Then I took the plunge last week and got the no fat yoghurt – which on reflection was a silly move. Manged to at one and keep it down.

I may try some of the youghurts that you have suggested, thanks very much. Faye/Total/Skyr/Yeo ???

Re inulin, I mixed about 4 gm with a small glass of water and ……. nothing happened, no thickening, well maybe just a little but hardly noticeable.

Is anyone seeing any benefits/results from using inulin? I am considering getting some, but don’t want to waste cash on something for nothing, so am interested to know what benefits users are seeing, so would appreciate it if some one can tell me of their experience.

Personally, I’m feeling much better and have more energy. My mood has improved too. I don’t think this is a “placebo” effect!

I just thought that inulin has three benefits, it makes you feel full, it can help you lose visceral fat, and helps with digestive health. I also read it can take six months for the effects to be noticeable.

I’ve only been on it a fortnight, and don’t know if I feel fuller.

Hiya, I use Inulin sometimes when I’m a little constipated. It tastes good and I put a teaspoon in a little water two or three times a day. I love steak however it does not digest properly and I’m sometimes a little slow in the morning, if you know what I mean. A teaspoon at breakfast or two teaspoons if I have a brunch sorts me out. I don’t count the calories, however if it has made me go over the 800, it hasn’t made any difference.

It does make me feel more “satisfied” after eating, but it hasn’t curbed my appetite as such. The visceral fat does appear to have gone down a little too. I can only speak as I find.