NOW Foods

Product Overview

NOW Foods Certified Organic Inulin is a pure powdered prebiotic fibre in a 227g container. The inulin comes from blue agave. It dissolves easily and has a light natural sweetness, so it disappears into drinks, smoothies, yoghurt or food.

Key Benefits

• It feeds your beneficial gut bacteria. That is what “prebiotic” means: a fibre you cannot digest, but your gut bacteria can.
• Those bacteria turn it into short-chain fatty acids, which the cells lining the colon use as fuel.
• It adds soluble fibre, which most diets here are short of.
• It has little effect on blood sugar, because it is fibre rather than sugar.

Key Features

• USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified, as the listing states
• Vegan and vegetarian; free of gluten, dairy, soy and nuts
• Packed in a GMP-certified facility in the USA
• Pure powder — nothing else added

How to Use

1. Start with 1 level teaspoon a day, mixed into a drink or food.
2. Over a week or two, increase gradually if you are comfortable.
3. The listed dose is 1 level teaspoon, 1 to 3 times a day.
4. Drink plenty of fluid through the day, as with any added fibre.

The listing gives a nutrition figure for a teaspoon as a range rather than an exact value — roughly 3g, almost all of it fibre. The exact figure is on the label.

Who Is It Suitable For?

Adults who want more fibre in their day, including vegans and people keeping an eye on carbohydrates. People with diabetes can generally use it, as it is not a sugar, but should mention it to their doctor along with any other diet change.

Not a good fit for people with IBS who react to FODMAPs — inulin is one of the fibres a low-FODMAP diet removes, and it can make bloating worse.

Side Effects

The most common are wind, bloating and cramps, especially when starting or on larger amounts. That is the fibre being fermented, and it usually settles as your gut adjusts. If it does not, cut back.

This Is a Supplement, Not a Medicine

A dietary supplement is a food product. It is not a medicine, it has not been through the testing a medicine goes through, and it does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Supplement labels use health language — “supports”, “helps maintain”, “promotes” — precisely because they are not permitted to claim treatment. Read them that way. If a listing anywhere promises that a capsule will fix a medical condition, that promise is not one the product can keep.

What a supplement can honestly do is fill a gap in your diet. That is worth something, and it is a smaller thing than most packaging implies.

Talk to a Doctor First

Speak to a doctor or pharmacist before you start, particularly if you:

• take any prescribed medicine — supplements interfere with medicines more often than people expect
• are being treated for a heart, liver, kidney, thyroid or blood condition
• have diabetes
• are pregnant, trying to conceive, or breastfeeding
• have surgery or a dental procedure coming up

Never stop or reduce a prescribed medicine in order to take a supplement instead. That is the single most dangerous thing anyone does with a product like this, and it is what the marketing language quietly invites.

Food First

A supplement is a supplement — the name is accurate. It works best filling a genuine gap on top of an ordinary varied diet, not standing in for one.

Whole food gives you the nutrient along with the fibre and the dozens of other compounds that come with it, in amounts your body is built to handle. No capsule reproduces that. Take a supplement because your diet, your blood test or your doctor points to a specific gap — not because the packaging is persuasive.

Storage

• Keep the container tightly closed, somewhere cool and dry, out of direct sunlight.
• Do not store it in a bathroom. Heat and humidity break supplements down faster than anything else, and a Dhaka bathroom is the worst place in the house for them.
• Leave the desiccant sachet in the bottle. It is there to keep moisture out, not by mistake.
• Softgels and fish oils are best kept in a fridge in hot weather — they go rancid otherwise.
• Keep it out of reach of children.
• Do not use it after the expiry date, and throw it away if the capsules smell strongly off, have stuck together or changed colour.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it the same as a probiotic?

No. A probiotic contains live bacteria; a prebiotic like inulin is food for the bacteria already in your gut.

Can I use it as a sweetener?

It is mildly sweet, so it can take the edge off a drink, but it is much less sweet than sugar.

Why do I feel bloated?

You may be starting too high. Drop back to half a teaspoon and build up slowly.

How do I check the pack is in date?

The expiry date is printed on the bottle or the base of the box. Check it as soon as your order arrives. If it is unreadable or close to expiry, message us and we will replace it.