Chicory For Weight Loss

A Miracle Food?
Chicory, the plant that in some lands is used as a flavor-enhancer or even a substitute for coffee, contains two ingredients that can contribute to a weight loss program. And its good for you in other ways!

A report in July, l999's Journal of Nutrition* (supplement) reveals that these ingredients, inulin and oligofructose, are not digestible by our bodies (no calories.) However they are digested by beneficial microscopic plants in the colon. Benefit number two: they aid "...in the treatment of, prevention or alleviation of symptoms of intestinal diseases." And amazingly, benefit number three: these two (fibers) also participate in the feeding of beneficial bacteria (similar to yogurt) and allow them to compete with and defeat harmful bacteria, stimulate our immune system and indirectly help promote our own production of B vitamins!

Okay, so its a start. There's more. The chicory ingredients are also helpful in preventing osteoporosis as shown in humans, while so far they have been tested in animals with beneficial results "in the prevention and inhibition of colon and breast cancer," (emphasis added,) according to the medical scientists.

*By Dr. Marcel B. Roberfroid and associates, Catholic U. of Lovain, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Science, Brussels, Belgium.

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