Chicory fructans in nutrition and the formulation of foods dedicated to blood glucose disorder management

Abstract

Fructans were first described in 1804 by Rose, a German scientist, who found a “peculiar” substance of plant origin in a boiling water extract from Inula helenium. Chemically, fructans are defined as any compound in which one or more fructosyl-fructose linkages constitute a majority of the linkages. The material included in this definition may or may not contain attached glucose (Lewis 1993).