An investigation of the acute effects of oligofructose-enriched inulin on subjective wellbeing, mood and cognitive performance
Open accessAbstract
Inulin is a natural food component found in many plants that are part of the human diet (e.g., leeks, onions, wheat, garlic, chicory and artichokes). It is added to many foods and is used to increase dietary fibre, replace fats or carbohydrates, and as a prebiotic (a stimulant of beneficial bacteria in the colon). Oligofructose, which is also present in these foods, produces similar effects and most research has used a combination of these products. A previous study (Smith, 2005) investigated the effects of regular consumption of oligofructose-enriched inulin on wellbeing, mood, and cognitive performance in humans. The results showed that oligofructose-enriched inulin had no negative effects but that it did not improve wellbeing, mood, or performance. The aim of the present study was to examine the acute effects of oligofructose-enriched inulin (5 g) over a 4 h period during which the participants remained in the laboratory. A double blind placebo (maltodextrin) controlled study (N = 47) was carried out with the order of conditions being counterbalanced and the two sessions a week apart. On each test day mood and cognitive performance were assessed at baseline (at 8:00) and then following inulin or placebo (at 11:00). Prior to the second test session (at 10:30) participants completed a questionnaire assessing their physical symptoms and mental health during the test morning. The inulin and placebo were provided in powder form in 5 g sachets. Volunteers consumed one sachet in decaffeinated tea or decaffeinated coffee with breakfast (9:00). Questionnaire results showed that on the day that the inulin was consumed, participants felt happier, had less indigestion and were less hungry than when they consumed the placebo. As for performance and mood tasks, the most consistent effects were on the episodic memory tasks where consumption of inulin was associated with greater accuracy on a recognition memory task, and improved recall performance (immediate and delayed). Further research is required to identify the mechanisms that underlie this effect with glucose metabolism being one candidate.
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Improvements in memory tasks and subjective improvements in mood were observed in healthy individuals receiving a prebiotic of oligofructose-enriched inulin.
“Improvements in memory tasks and subjective improvements in mood were observed in a study on healthy individuals receiving a prebiotic of oligofructose-enriched inulin (Smith et al., 2015).”
From The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis (2019) · cites this paper as Smith et al., 2015
In a study where healthy individuals were given the prebiotic inulin, subjective improvements in mood were noted, along with improved scores on a set of memory tasks.
“In a study where healthy individuals were given the prebiotic inulin, subjective improvements in mood were noted, along with improved scores on a set of memory tasks (484).”
From Signalling cognition: The gut microbiota and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (2023) · cites this paper as [484]
B. longum 1417 modulated resting neural activity as well as neural responses to social stress, while supplementation with beta-galactooligosaccharide reduced the salivary cortisol awakening response and improved emotional information processing, and an oligofructose-enriched inulin improved memory and mood in healthy volunteers.
“For example, B. longum 1417 modulated resting neural activity as well as neural responses to social stress, while supplementation with β-galactooligosaccharide reduced the salivary cortisol awakening response, a biochemical measure of stress, and improved emotional information processing (329), and an oligofructose-enriched inulin improved memory and mood in healthy volunteers (330).”
From Diet and the Microbiota–Gut–Brain Axis: Sowing the Seeds of Good Mental Health (2021) · cites this paper as [330]
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- Authors
- Smith, A., Sutherland, D., & Hewlett, P.
- Affiliations
- Cardiff University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Smith, Andrew
- ORCID
- Smith, Andrew
- Venue
- Nutrients
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2015-10-28
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 8887-8896
- ISSN
- 2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4663569
- OpenAlex
- W1904454303
- Cited by
- 117
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 3.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (acceptedVersion)
- Aberdeen University Research Archive (Aberdeen University) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Cardiff Metropolitan Research Repository (Cardiff Metropolitan University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Oraft1
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Microbial Metabolites in Food Biotechnology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
- Keywords
- oligofructose-enriched inulin, prebiotics, subjective well-being, mood, cognitive performance, episodic memory, recognition memory, dyspepsia, hunger, glucose metabolism
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Cognition, Diet, Dietary Fiber, Digestion, Double-Blind Method, Dyspepsia, Female, Happiness, Health Status, Humans, Hunger, Inulin, Male, Oligosaccharides, Plant Extracts, Surveys and Questionnaires, Mental Recall, Young Adult, Prebiotics, Diagnostic Self Evaluation
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