What is inulin?
Inulin is a special type of fiber that the body doesn't digest like bread or sugar. Instead, good bacteria in the gut eat it and turn it into substances that protect the body. In one sentence: inulin is food for the good bacteria in your gut and helps keep sugar from causing harm.
A 2024 study, conducted at the University of California and published in the renowned journal Nature Metabolism, revealed something astonishing: when people eat foods rich in inulin, our gut bacteria get extra energy to break down sugar before it even reaches the liver. And do you know why this is important? Because too much fructose (which is a natural sugar in fruit and sweet drinks) can exhaust the liver and cause fat to start accumulating in it. According to WHO data from 2023, more than 25% of the world's population shows signs of fatty liver, even among those who are not overweight.
Why this matters for you
Many people think that sugar problems only start showing up on the scale or at the doctor’s office. But the truth is different. Even if your body weight is low, too much sugar can still lead to problems doctors call non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This is a condition where fat starts to build up in the liver, even if you don't drink alcohol. And you know what? According to the American National Institutes of Health data from 2022, as many as 40% of people with fatty liver are of normal weight. This isn’t just an overweight problem! The liver takes care of more than 500 functions in the body, including filtering toxins and managing energy levels. When it’s overloaded, the whole system starts to break down, from immune to hormonal function.
That’s why it’s important to give your gut the tools to protect the body from sugar. But you don’t need to buy expensive supplements. Sometimes our grandmothers used to say: for every disease, there’s a herb growing. And it turns out, they knew more than we thought.
What happens in the gut?
Researcher Dr. Cholsoon Jang, who leads the Nutrient Metabolism Laboratory at the University of California, explained that fibers like inulin literally teach gut bacteria to “eat” fructose. When fructose enters the body, if the gut bacteria are well-fed, they break it down before it reaches the liver. If fiber is lacking, the fructose goes straight on, reaches the liver, and begins to cause fat accumulation there.
It’s like having gatekeepers at the city gates, checking tickets. If you pay them well (in our case, feed them with fiber), they let only those who are allowed through and stop the others. If the gatekeepers fall asleep (if they don’t get the needed fiber), anyone can enter and cause chaos.
According to the research, consumption of inulin reduced the indicators of fatty liver in people who weren’t even overweight. This is very important information, because many people think they are healthy just because they don’t have excess weight. In 2025, a report published at Harvard warned that 1 in 7 slim people are metabolically unhealthy, meaning they have hidden problems with sugar, fat, or liver health.
How to use this knowledge at home
The best news is that you can get inulin almost for free and completely naturally. It is found most in:
- onion
- garlic
- leek
- artichoke
- parsnip
- dandelion
- chicory (especially in the root)
If we think of our grandmothers, they used garlic and onions daily. And not because they wanted to follow some trendy organic diet, but because they knew garlic keeps the blood clean and the stomach strong. Today, we know it supports our gut and liver.
We recommend eating at least 5 to 10 grams of these vegetables daily, which is roughly a small onion or two cloves of garlic. This will feed the good bacteria. Research shows that people who regularly eat inulin improve their gut function within just 14 days.
Sadly, in recent years, we have seen an increase in liver issues among younger people. In 2020, there were 9 million cases of fatty liver diagnosed in the USA, and by 2024, more than 14 million. The main reason? Drinks, sweets, and too little fiber. No wonder, considering that, according to Eurostat, the average European consumes only 18 grams of fiber a day, but should have at least 30 grams.
Even the World Health Organization published a report in 2023 warning that increasing natural fiber intake could prevent up to 20% of liver diseases and 25% of type 2 diabetes. These are not small numbers.
If you remember the 2020 pandemic and all the concerns about immunity, it’s clear today that immunity doesn’t only come from vitamin C, but also from the gut. That’s where 70% of our immune cells are created. If the gut doesn’t work well, it’s like having an army without shoes. It can’t fight well.
A home-made, affordable solution
If you want to take the first step, try a simple recipe our ancestors already used:
In the evening, chop up some onion and pour good apple cider vinegar over it. In the morning, eat a few spoonfuls. Apple cider vinegar contains organic acids that help the gut, and the onion provides inulin. In two weeks, your digestion will be better and you’ll be less bloated.
For the more courageous: one clove of garlic per day, for at least 3 months. In very old writings from 1850, garlic was recommended for clean blood and a strong stomach. Today we’d say: for healthy microbes and less damage from sugar.
Pay attention to artificial sweeteners
If you think you’ll solve the sugar problem by drinking sugar-free sodas with artificial sweeteners, be careful! Research from 2022 showed that artificial sweeteners like sucralose decrease the number of good gut bacteria. This means you might avoid sugar, but you’re harming your gut in a different way. Natural fibers are much more needed in such cases.
To put it simply: your gut is your first guard against sugar. If you feed it well, it protects your liver, blood, energy, and health. If not, sugar sneaks past all checkpoints and leaves consequences that you only feel years later.
We suggest: every day a bit of onion or garlic, a little dandelion or artichoke, and fewer sweet drinks. This is a health investment that will cost you less than 1 euro per day, but will prevent problems that people later spend thousands of euros on for medicine and treatment.
If you want to live long and stay vital, you don’t need to look for miracles. It’s enough to listen to what nature already knew before we understood scientific terms.
And as the old folk wisdom says: health grows in the field, not in the pharmacy.
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