Is fructooligosaccharide low FODMAP?
No, and here is why
Fructooligosaccharide is a potent source of fructans, so Munchable treats it as high FODMAP even in modest amounts. Where it is a main ingredient the verdict is an avoid; further down the label it is still flagged rather than waved through.
On a real product, the reason Munchable shows reads: High FODMAP fructans as a main ingredient
What it is called on a label
Fructooligosaccharide is also printed as fos, fructo oligosaccharides, fructooligosaccharides. Munchable recognises all of these as the same ingredient, which is the point of scanning rather than reading: the wording changes between brands and the rule does not.
What Munchable checks for IBS and low FODMAP
- Fructans: wheat, rye, barley, onion, garlic, inulin, chicory root, FOS
- GOS: legumes, chickpeas, lentils, soy flour
- Polyols: sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, maltitol, isomalt, including their E-numbers
- Excess fructose: honey, high fructose corn syrup, agave, apple and pear concentrates
- Lactose, as the FODMAP view of dairy
- Where each one sits on the ingredients list, so a main ingredient outranks a trace
The full reasoning, and the evidence behind it, is in the IBS and low FODMAP guide.
Fructooligosaccharide and the other patterns Munchable checks
Other ingredients Munchable flags for IBS and low FODMAP
The catch with reading labels yourself
Knowing that fructooligosaccharide is a problem is the easy part. Finding it is the hard part: it hides behind wordings that do not look like it, it matters more near the top of the list than the bottom, and a product you have bought for years quietly reformulates. That is the job Munchable does in the aisle, in about a second, from the barcode.
Check it in the shop, not at home
Point your phone at the barcode and Munchable reads the ingredients list for you, before it goes in the basket.