Inulin

About a year ago, I discovered Fiber One bars. They looked great--chocolatey, carmelly, delish--and the box said they had 35% of the daily recommended fiber! They were awesome. The kids loved them, Nathan gobbled them up, and I snacked on them constantly.

Then came the gas.

We all got it, but we didn't initially associate it with the Fiber One bars. But I got curious. Just how did General Mills pack nine grams of fiber in such a small bar? So I googled "fiber one bars" and I found an internet community devoted to and reviled by the bars. Number one topic of internet chatter? Gas.

Most everyone on the message boards agreed that the bars tasted really good, but some thought the accompanying gas was too big a price to pay for something yummy. I also found out what provided the fiber (and the gas): inulin, a dietary fiber that is naturally found in onions and some other veggies and often added to processed foods. In ingredient lists it is often listed as "chicory root", a common source of inulin.

Inulin is healthy. It is a probiotic, it boosts calcium absorption, and it is great for diabetics because it isn't absorbed and isn't counted as carbohydrate intake. You just have to be careful how much you eat and how much you feed the kids.

Now I always check labels when a product's fiber content seems too good to be true. And we still occasionally eat Fiber One bars, but now we call them "fart bars".