Sounds strange! But it is true. Inulin, a plant-based nutrient, can help your body deal with its own insulin needs - allowing your pancreas to “catch its breath.”
The Inulin molecules obtained from dahlia tubers are called Dahlin. After undergoing a special treatment, dahlia tubers yield pure laevulose that is sometimes called Atlanta Starch or Diabetic Sugar, which is frequently prescribed for the needs of diabetic and consumptive patients, and has been given to children in cases of wasting illness.
With increasing stress levels human body’s over-flooded sugar moderating systems are under increasing pressure. In spite of unrelenting abuse, a tiny bit of pancreatic tissue called the Islets of langerhans keep most of us safe from diabetic trauma. These vital groups of cells, about the size of a finger, is all that stands between your health and the combined assaults of massive quantities of highly reactive refined sugars, and a shortage of soil chromium. There is a resultant shortfall in dietary chromium.
Chromium is very much essential for the pancreas to create enough insulin molecules to keep up with counter-balancing the effects of the flood of sugar.
Nutritional support of the blood-sugar-balancing system is essential for energy and endurance, as well as appetite moderation and the burning of excess fats.
In a paper read at the Second International Congress of the Sugar Industry, held at Paris in 1908, it was stated that pure laevulose is preferably made by the inversion of Inulin with dilute acids. The first step in the technical production of laevulose is in the preparation of Inulin, and Dahlia tubers contain 6 to 12 per cent of Inulin are the most suitable material. Dahlia tubers can readily be obtained in quantity, and Dahlia plants, if cultivated for the purpose, should yield in a few years a plentiful supply of cheap raw material.
For extraction of the Inulin, the roots or tubers are sliced, treated with milk of lime and steamed. The juice is then expressed and clarified by subsidence and filtration, the clear liquid being run into a revolving cooler until flakes are produced. These flakes are separated by a centrifugal machine, washed and decolorised, and the thus purified product finally treated with diluted acid, and so converted into laevulose. This solution of laevulose is neutralised and evaporated to a syrup in a vacuum pan.
laevulose can be produced in this manner from Dahlia tubers at an enormous reduction of price from the older methods of preparing it from molasses or sugar, the resultant product being of absolute purity. Its sweet and pleasant taste is likely to make it used not only for diabetic patients, but also in making confectionery and for retarding crystallisation of sugar products. It can also readily be utilised in the brewing and mineral water industries.
Research had indicated that Dahlin keeps blood sugar levels constant for up to 10 hours thus controlling cravings and hunger. Dahlin has also been shown to conserve the body’s glycogen stores, increasing the total energy reserves, providing an effective means of suppressing appetite.
Additionally, significant research has been done to support chromium as an effective supplement in the management of weight loss. Because it is involved in the metabolism of glucose, this essential mineral maintains stable blood sugar levels and will, therefore, help to promote the loss of fat and also increase lean muscle tissue
Athletic Support: Dahlia inulin has also been shown to conserve the body’s glycogen stores, increasing the energy reserves providing endurance, strength, vigour, and stamina. Dahlia inulin is especially good when combined with chromium in a supplement helps in the metabolism of glucose, thus stabilising blood sugar levels and helping to increase lean muscle and boost endurance.
Dahlin is a complex carbohydrate and when combined with the herb Siberian Ginseng, it can help power you through even the toughest workouts, athletic programmes, or competitive events.
History: Observers of medical research report that long before insulin was discovered for treating diabetic patients, a particular type of sugar was processed from dahlia tubers, and used for such treatment. Today, medical research and studies have focused on the use of chemicals present in dahlias for liver and kidney issues.
Historians say the ancient Aztecs used dahlia flowers to treat epilepsy and manuscripts found in Mexico also recorded other medicinal uses for the plant like a preparation of dahlia stems was used to treat urinary-tract disorders.
The tuber, alleviates stomach pain, dissipates blowing, draws forth urine, invokes perspiration, drives out coldness, strengthens the stomach weak because of the cold, turns aside cholic, opens what has been blocked, and when moved to the swellings disperses them.
(The author is pursuing her post-graduate studies in Floriculture and landscaping from the Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHIATS), Allahabad, in Uttar Pradesh)