Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: thedoc on 18/08/2016 12:53:01
-
Chris Walsh asked the Naked Scientists:
Hi Chris
Greetings from Melbourne and thanks for the show.
A couple of months ago the ABC aired a BBC documentary called "How to Stay Young". It featured the broadcaster Angela Rippon.
As part of the program Ms Rippon had an MRI which revealed that while most of the body and organs where in good nick for her 71 years she was carrying around 6 liters of visceral fat, much of it concentrated around her heart and liver.
The answer she told us was to consume a lot of "high resistance starch". This starch, which is naturally available through eating pulses such as lentils and chickpeas, passes through to the large intestine where is releases an acid that has the capacity to re-enter the main body systems to attack and melt the visceral fat. But you have to eat kilos of lentils for it to work. To avoid eating lentils it was suggested that INULIN could be taken. It comes in a white powder and is derived from hickory.
It seems a really important yet there is promotion of this product and it is quite difficult to get hold on in Australia. I couldn't find any Melbourne health food shops and the internet has some info but nothing like the sort of info you get on things like the 'Five- Two' diet.
What is the science on this? Does INULIN work and how long does it take if used as per instructions?
That is my question for you.
Cheers
What do you think?
-
For a start, chicory is not hickory.
Also, inulin is not a starch.
For an encore, changing your diet based on a TV show about one individual is -at best- unscientific; it's much better to ask a doctor.