Showing posts with label fructan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fructan. Show all posts

Monday, May 26, 2008

Is there a microbiologist in the house?

I'm trying to improve my diet - one way is by attempting (oh foolish me) to avoid high-fructose corn syrup.

I'm eating yogurt, and noticed that among the ingredients is something called "fructan".

A fructan is a polymer of fructose molecules - Plants storing their food as fructans are able to thrive at low temperatures since fructans confer tolerance to freezing. They bind to membranes, thereby helping to keep cells intact.

So...does "fructan" count as "fructose"? It seems essentially a sugar, but is it a bad sugar? I've read a bunch of stuff online (mostly research papers) and it's hard to tell, since I lack the scientific vocabulary.

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