Inulin & Beta Glucan Reduce Body Fat Gain By -50% & -33%! Both Have Similar Effects on the Gut Microbiome, But Only Inulin Appears to Be More Than An Appetite Suppressant

What do these Jerusalem artichokes, agave, bananas, burdock, camas, chicory, coneflower, costus, dandelion, elecampane, garlic,jicama, Leopard's-bane, mugwort, onion, wild yams, yacon and a whole host of other foods have in common? Right! They contain inulin. Whether you will be able to get a whopping amount of 10% inulin in your diet w/out the use of supplements or "enriched" foods, is yet as questionable as how beneficial this actually is for friends of physical culture.

The gut microbiome is not just one of the hottest topics in the (health-)blogosphere, it is also a subject of ongoing research. Research, however, that is, if we are honest, still very much in its infancy. As impressive as the results from the latest studies into the metabolic downstream effects of the administration of fermentable fiber to rodents may be and as obvious as their relation to certain changes in the gut microbiome of the animals may appear - in the end, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms does not allow any reliable prognoses like "double the amount of lactobacilli and you will eventually be able to lose that pouch of body fat you've been carrying around for years now". And yet, if the results from the latest rodent experiments at the Imperial College in London, could be reproduced in humans, I can already foresee that both, the consumption and use of the foods I listed in the caption of the image to the right, as well as related products, extracts and supplements, which contain more or less significant amounts of the naturally occurring polysaccharides, we usually refer to as inulin, will increase in the months and years to come.

Fermentable fiber and the gut-brain-axes: The key to lifelong leanness?

If this is not your first visit to the SuppVersity, you will certainly be aware that the idea of a magic pill (or fiber) that will allow you to eat whatever, whenever and in whichever amounts without having to cope with the metabolic consequences is illusive. When the addition of 10% inulin (or beta glucan) to the diets of 36 male C57BL/6 mice had an "anti-obesogenic" effect, this does not mean that the poor critters who were kept on a hypercaloric high fat (41.8%) diet for 8 weeks did not get obese. What it does mean, though, is that the addition of 10% fermentable (=being food for certain gut bacteria) fiber in the form of

*the producers of these products did not fund or support the study (at least the scientists don't mention that in the respective disclosure ;-)

• inulin from Synergy(TM)*, a fructan based preparation containing both long and short chain
  fructooligosaccharides, or
• beta-glucan from Glucagel(TM)* a highly rich (,80%) barley derived b-glucan preparation

to their otherwise iso-caloric diet (the HFD control contained cellulose) was not without helped to mitigate the negative effects of this diet - a fact the majority of you, of whom I would expect that they are not on a fast-food diet should keep in mind, before they head over to their favorite online supplement vendor and type "Synergy inulin" into the search box.

Figure 1: Effect of addition of 10% fermentable fiber as inulin or beta glucan to the high fat diet of male mice on cumulative weight gain (left), body composition and fatness (middle) and food intake (right) over the course of 8 weeks (data adapted from Arora. 2013)

In spite of that, the results are simply too impressive not to think about their implications in otherwise healthy and even more so previously obese individuals. This is particularly true, because the same microbial changes about which the authors write in a previously published paper from May 2013 that the ...

"[...] increases in both Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillius and a significant increase in short chain fatty acids (SCFA) [went hand in hand with] increase in neuronal activation within the arcuate nucleus (ARC) of animals that received In [inulin] supplementation" (Anastasovska. 2013)

do not (and this is a result of the researchers very latest experiments) simply blunt the rodents appetite. If that was the case, the rodents that received the beta glucan supplemented chow and consumed 12% less energy should have had the most favorable body composition. A cursory glance at figure 1 will yet tell you that this was not the case, though.

Inulin beats beta glucan when it comes to body fat reduction / repression

If we take a closer look a the differential effects of inulin and beta glucan, there yet only one figure that really sticks out and that's the accumulation of fat within the musculature of the animals. The "beautiful marbling" people are looking for in their steaks, however, usually is a harbinger of impeding or even existing skeletal muscle insulin resistance. A muscle fat content above the high fat control (it's certainly a weakness that we don't have a "real" control group on standard rodent chow, here) as Arora et al. observed it in the tissue samples of the beta glucan group, does thus tell you something about its potential usefulness, or rather uselessness of this specific type of fermentable fiber.

Figure 2: Effects of the different types of fermentable fiber on cecal microflora groups (figures are in scientific notation, this means "1E+6" equals 1mio, "1E+9" would be 1 billion etc.; data based on Arora. 2013)

In conjunction with the information about the corresponding changes in the gut microbiome (see figure 2), which appear virtually identical in both groups (specifically the extreme increasesin in both Bifidobacteria (BIF) and Lactobacillius (LAB) really stick out), this does however suggest that the modulatory effect on the composition of the gut flora, or at least the part of it the scientists evaluated in the study at hand, cannot be the only driving force behind the beneficial metabolic effects of inulin.

Inulin or beta glucan? This is not a question... 

While the latter, i.e. inulin, which has by the way been found to directly suppress lipogenesis in a 2011 study by Belgian scientists in a similar HFD rodent model (Dewulf. 2011), appears to be promising for everyone, regardless of whether he or she is poisoning him- or herself with the standard American diet (which is, with its high fat and high carbohydrate content de facto an identical twin of the so-called "high fat diet" in rodent studies), the ingestion of larger amounts of the former, i.e. beta glucan, does at least appear questionable.

If you want to use inulin to your metabolic advantage, you better make sure you get your self a more comfortable place to answer the call of nature - it could call thrice as often! Moreover, large amounts of inulin and other fermentable fiber can induce gastrointestinal distress-

The question is therefore not so much whether it's worth supplementing (it's certainly worth to incorporate some of the initially mentioned foods into your diet, as most of them contain a whole list of other advantageous micronutrients) with inulin or beta glucan - the answer would obviously be inulin - but rather whether it's worth adding larger amounts of inulin to an already healthy diet. And while we cannot answer this question based on the results of the previously cited rodent studies, we could argue that Marwa Zenhom and her colleagues from the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel have already supplied relevant evidence that this would be the case (Zenhom. 2011). After all, the German researchers have been able to show that the PPAR-gamma related anti-inflammatory effects (significant reductions IL-12 secretion in Caco-2 cells and gene expression of IL-12p35, IL-8, and TNFa as well as NF-kB) of oligosaccharides are not (exclusively) brought about by their effects on the gut microbiome, because bacteria simply were not present in their in-vitro study with human Caco-2 cells (cells from the gut lining). Bassaganya-Riera et al. even argue that this effect could be beneficial for IBS patients (Bassaganya-Riera. 2011).

Whether having 10% of your diet in form of inulin, or to make this more conceivable, having 1 tablespoon of plain inulin for every 9 tablespoons of whatever else you eat is either feasible or reasonable, is a whole different story (to put that into perspective: The average inulin intake of Westerners is 1-10g per day (van Loo. 1995). Even 10g would yet only be enough if you ate only 100g of food within 24h!)... and I must forewarn you, if you go by the fecal volume of the mice in the Arora study, it is possible that you will spend >3x more time on the toilette than usual ;-)

References:

• Arora T, Loo RL, Anastasovska J, Gibson GR, Tuohy KM, Sharma RK, Swann JR, Deaville ER, Sleeth ML, Thomas EL, Holmes E, Bell JD, Frost G. Differential effects of two fermentable carbohydrates on central appetite regulation and body composition. PLoS One. 2013;7(8):e43263.
• Anastasovska J, Arora T, Sanchez Canon GJ, Parkinson JR, Touhy K, Gibson GR, Nadkarni NA, So PW, Goldstone AP, Thomas EL, Hankir MK, Van Loo J, Modi N, Bell JD, Frost G. Fermentable carbohydrate alters hypothalamic neuronal activity and protects against the obesogenic environment. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 May;20(5):1016-23.
• Astegiano M, Pellicano R, Terzi E, Simondi D, Rizzetto M. Treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. A case control experience. Minerva Gastroenterol Dietol. 2006 Dec;52(4):359-63.
• Bassaganya-Riera J, DiGuardo M, Viladomiu M, de Horna A, Sanchez S, Einerhand AW, Sanders L, Hontecillas R. Soluble fibers and resistant starch ameliorate disease activity in interleukin-10-deficient mice with inflammatory bowel disease. J Nutr. 2011 Jul;141(7):1318-25.
• Dewulf EM, Cani PD, Neyrinck AM, Possemiers S, Van Holle A, Muccioli GG, Deldicque L, Bindels LB, Pachikian BD, Sohet FM, Mignolet E, Francaux M, Larondelle Y, Delzenne NM. Inulin-type fructans with prebiotic properties counteract GPR43 overexpression and PPARγ-related adipogenesis in the white adipose tissue of high-fat diet-fed mice. J Nutr Biochem. 2011 Aug;22(8):712-22.  
• van Loo J, Coussement P, de Leenheer L, Hoebregs H, Smits G. On the presence of inulin and oligofructose as natural ingredients in the western diet. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 1995 Nov;35(6):525-52.
• Zenhom M, Hyder A, de Vrese M, Heller KJ, Roeder T, Schrezenmeir J. Prebiotic oligosaccharides reduce proinflammatory cytokines in intestinal Caco-2 cells via activation of PPARγ and peptidoglycan recognition protein 3. J Nutr. 2011 May;141(5):971-7.

Oleic Acid Modulates Gut Bacteria and Induces Weight Loss on HFD Diet. Wondertoothpaste w/ 32 Herbals Promises Cancer Protection. 2% Cholesterol Diet Bad For the Testes.

While Adelfo did not have the time to write a whole update, he still send me some current progress pics, I am allowed to publish. I guess you would agree that the his "carboholism" has not done signficicant damage to his physique, won't you? If  you want to know more about his current workouts click here. For some info on his diet check out this post or simply go through all of his recent and not so recent guestgposts, here.

Just in case you have not already figured it out based on the longish, 3-item title title and the absence of a "Plus: Sneak Preview on the SuppVersity Science Round-Up" at the end: There is no SuppVersity Science Round-Up, today: When I emailed him yesterday to say that I would not make it in time to the show today, it turned out that Carl was just about to let me know that he would not be in the studio and we would be doing the next installment of the Science RoundUp next week - strange coincidence, right? Anyway, now you can blame whomever you want for not being able to listen to my catastrophic German accent today ;-)

That being said, I guess some of you may have thought that there would be an update from Adelfo Cerame Jr. today. Unfortunately, that's not the case either. What I have to offer today is nothing more, but also nothing less than two impressive progress pics of our common friend and a triplet of news that I had lying around here for you to educate yourself in Carl's and my radio and Adelfo's blog absence. Judged by the huge interest the "Saturated Fatty Acids Cause Post-Prandial Endotoxemia" post generated the other day, I suppose many of you will like the first one best. Don't fret about the rest, though, but take it as a generous giveaway ;-)

Oleic acid supplementation prevents obesity by modulating gut flora

With 60-80% olive oil is one of the best sources of oleic acid. And the additional polyphenols make it an even better choice as a staple of your diet (read more about the polyphenol content of regular and extra virgine olive oil, here at the SuppVersity); also don't forget macadamia oil, which has >60% oleic acid

(Mujico. 2013) Once again, we are back to Saturday's post on the influence of different fatty acids on the gut microbiome and and your health. Today, we are yet not talking about pigs and saturated fats, but about rats and oleic acid, a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid, which has - at least according to this recent study by scientists from Spain and Brazil the ability to prevent the formation of an obese phenotype in response to high fat feeding via its obviously beneficial effect on the composition of the gut bacteria.

"Consumption of a HFD induced changes in the faecal microbiota (an increase in all the tested groups of Firmicutes, as well as the order Enterobacteriales, and a decrease in Bifidobacterium spp. and the phylum Bacteroidetes), which were associated with the appearance of an obese phenotype.

Correlation analysis revealed that body weight correlated positively with the phylum Firmicutes and clostridial cluster XIVa, and negatively with the phylum Bacteroidetes. Supplementation of the HFD with S1 counteracted HFD-induced gut dysbiosis, together with an improvement in body weight." (Mujico. 2013).

In that supplement group 1 (S1) denotes the administration of an oleic acid-derived compound at 1500 mg/kg per day, which did - much contrary to supplement group 2 (S2), a fish oil based n-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA, 3000 mg/kg per day) do an awesome job as far as the decrease in weight gain is concerned (see figure 2).

Figure 1: Bacterial composition of the feces at the end of the supplementation period (Mujico.2013).

Interestingly, the most notable change in the gut microbiome in response to oleic acid supplementation was an increase in bifidobacteria and bacteroidetes (as mentioned in the quotation above the latter was significantly correlated with the reduced obesity), the otherwise often hailed amount of lactobacilli, on the other hand, did increase only in the fish oil group and it did, as the data in figure 1 goes to show you not have any ameliorative effect on the weight. Moreover, the rodents who received the high fat diet in conjunction with the oleic acid had by far the highest count of total faecal bacteria.

Figure 2: Weight development of the pre-fattened rodents in week 0-7 of the supplementation phase (Mujico. 2013)

Bottom line: Now despite the fact that all that sounds great and more than promising, you should keep two things in mind: (a) you are (hopefully) not over-consuming a diet that's both high in fat and carbohydrates (which is the standard HFD in rodent experiments) and (b) it still remains to be seen if and to which degree results from a rodent model can be transferred into the human reality. Still, maybe the benefits of the Mediterranean which is per se high in oleic acid (way higher than it is in omega-3, by the way) are actually related to it's effects on the gut microbiome and not to it's direct effect on the fatty acid composition of either the blood lipids or the cell membranes as we have long been speculating.

Wondertoothpaste contains herbal overkill, is supposed to protect from oral cancer

(Chowdhury. 2013) If you are into "kitchen sink" approaches, you will probably love the toothpaste a group of scientist from the West Bengal University of Technology in India have just formulated. It does contain not one, not two and not three herbals, but alongside baking soda (teeth whitener), egg shell powder (calcium source), clove oil (sensitivity), glycerin (preservative), and other basic ingredients, but rather 32 ranging from popular and well-known stuff such as

Choti elaichi (green cardamon) is - as exotic as it may sound actually still the most straight forward ingredient of the "kitchen sink" toothpaste. After all, it has a well established anti-microbial activity.

• curcumin - as an anticarcinogen,
• green tea - as free radical scavenger, and
• echinacea - as an immune stimulant

to more exotic herbals such as

• nayantara -as an anti-mitotic and anti-microtubule agent,
• choti elaichi (green cardamon) - as a desinfectant for the oral cavity and
• ajwain - usually used to prevent kidney stones, it's also supposed to have anti-cancer effects

I am not sure, whether I would be inclined to buy this toothpaste, but having the sentence "the toothpaste is theoretically as well as experimentally serve the basic properties of general toothpaste with an advantage of having the medicinal properties of 32herbs which makes it unique in its category" from the conclusion of the paper as a marketing argument would probably call peoples' attention. I mean, the kitchen sink, even caught mine ;-)

Excess dietary cholesterol is bad for your testes

Just to make sure you don't get scared hat all the healthy eggs you're eating would all of a sudden damage your testes. An egg has 0.4% cholesterol, so that it is 100% impossible to get the equivalent amount of cholesterol from eggs, even if you ate them all day. Plus, eggs have all your body needs to make best use of the cholesterol (learn more)

(Moustafa. 2013) --- While I would hope that most of you do know that all your hormones are eventually manufactured from  cholesterol and you would end up without any sex hormones, if you ate a cholesterol free diet and your body did not have the raw material it needs to manufacture its own cholesterol, a recent study from the Al-Azhar University in Cario, Egypt, clearly shows that having too much of it in your diet - in this case 2% - will lead to alterations in spermatogenesis and morphoogical changes in the epdididymal sturcture.

Interestingly, the provision of the essential amino acid methionine (0.5% of the diet) ameliorated some of the negative side effects (remember: methionine is the precursor to cysteine; learn more about the sulfur amino acids, here). Contrary to what common sense would dictate, this beneficial effect of methinonine was not dose dependent and decreased, when the dose was escalated to 2%.

References:

• Chowdhury, BR, Garai A, Deb M, Batthacharya S. Herbal toothpaste-A possible remedy for oral cancer. Journal of Natural Products. 2013; 6:44-55.
• Mujico JR, Baccan GC, Gheorghe A, Díaz LE, Marcos A. Changes in gut microbiota due to supplemented fatty acids in diet-induced obese mice. Br J Nutr. 2013 Jan 10:1-10.
• Moustafa NA, Elnga A. Effect of Cholesterol and /or Methionine on the Testis of Rats. The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine. 2013; 49: 857-878.